The Family Life
by Lucy4Life
Summary: Well, there's this guy who has an affair behind his wife's back and then she finds out and gets a divorce, if you want to know what else happens, read it! It's just about a family who keep having problems after other problems. :o
1. A Family Guy?

Chapter 1- A Family Guy?

Daniel was a simple kind of guy. He had a wife called Stacy and a daughter called Emily. They were a perfectly normal family. They went swimming; they played games together, just like a normal family. Daniel was a teacher at a school in London, Stacy was an accountant in Central London and Emily went to the school right next to the one her dad worked in so he picked her up from school everyday.

Sometimes Daniel felt he didn't fit in with his family. Sometimes Stacy and Emily liked to do girly things. Daniel wished Stacy was a bit more of a tomboy. Her hours were long at work so she was always tired and they couldn't get any personal time. Emily loved her dad more than her mum and always took his side in an argument. The thing about Stacy was that she could twig when someone was lying. 'Lucky she can't suss out secrets…' Thought Daniel.


	2. The Secret

Chapter 2- The Secret.

Daniel had a secret. A big one. Well… Truthfully speaking he had two. One was the fact that he wasn't sure he loved Stacy anymore. His biggest secret was that he was in love and having an affair with another woman. He couldn't help himself, he thought she was GORGEOUS! She had curly hair and wild dress sense. She wasn't thin but Daniel didn't care because he hated it when women looked anorexic. He loved her name as well, Gemma. He thought it was as gorgeous as she was. Everyday at lunch time they'd eat their lunch together in Daniel's classroom, then they sloped off into the cupboard in the classroom for the whole hour. No one really suspected anything, apart from Emily. She might only be seven but she was a pretty smart kid. She went into the kitchen and sat next to Daniel.

"What's wrong dad?" She asked him.

"Nothing" Daniel replied, sighing. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Well…" She began, "I can't help but notice that you and mum aren't as happy as you used to be together. Dad? Do you love someone else? I won't tell mum I swear, you know I'm always on your side." Daniel sighed and looked at her. He didn't want to lie to her. He took a deep breath and said:

"Em, I'm going to tell you this because I love you and you have a right to know. Just don't tell anyone else."


	3. Emily finds out

Chapter 3- Emily finds out.

"I swear I won't" Emily said confidently. She widened her big, blue eyes to make her look more innocent. Daniel sighed again. "_Tell_ me dad!" She said almost in tears.

"Em you were right" Daniel said, "I _am_ in love with another woman. She works at the school and her name's Gemma. She's really nice to me and actually likes me for who I am. Your mum told me straight to my face that she only loved me for my money. But the thing is I _really_ like Gemma, I like her more than your mum and…and…I think…"

"You think you love her." Said Emily.

"Yes" Replied Daniel

"But what about mum?" Whispered Emily, tears glittering in her eyes.

"To be honest Em, I don't know" He replied glumly. "I'm supposed to be staying at hers on Saturday, I've told your mum I'm going to a stag do and we're staying in a B&B, but that's not until next week." Emily sighed and looked at her dad.

"I'll back you up dad" She said suddenly. "if you and mum split up I want to live with you!" Daniel looked at his daughter and tears filled his eyes. He loved her so much.

"Em…" He began, "Do you reckon it would be too risky if I invited her over in a few days to…you know…return the favour?"

"But mum will be in the kitchen!" Emily said amazed.

"I'll tell her we have to sort out modular grades on the computer." He said smirking proudly.

"And I'll keep her busy" said Emily desperate to help. Daniel smiled and said:

"High five partner in crime!"

"Partners in crime…" Said Emily smiling and returning the high five. Daniel looked into her eyes and knew he could trust her.


	4. Daniel goes to Gemma's

Chapter 4- Daniel goes to Gemma's.

It was Saturday, first day of the Easter holidays. Today was the day Daniel went to Gemma's flat.

Gemma was in a huge panic, Daniel was coming at 7:30 and there was so much to do! She had to dust everywhere, vacuum everywhere, wash the dishes, iron her clothes and wash some more and there was only 11 and a half hours to do it in!

Meanwhile, a couple of streets away, Daniel was performing his usual Saturday morning rituals. Stacy was on the computer doing work and he was supposed to be taking Emily swimming as usual. As they got in the car Daniel anxiously checked his watch. It was 11:15, and he felt pressured. "Only 8 hours and 15 minutes to go dad!" Said Emily excitedly. "I'll make sure she keeps busy, she doesn't normally ask about you when you're out." Daniel felt a huge pang of guilt in his stomach.

"Em, you don't have to back me up, it's not fair on you." He said as they pulled up at the pool.

"But I _want_ to!" said Emily skipping along beside him. "Full stop! End of conversation!" They separated to get changed.

"See you in the pool" said Daniel, "Be careful."

"I will" Emily said smiling. She had a feeling today was going to be a good day.

Gemma was almost finished, she just had to iron these last few T-shirts and she'd be done. The place looked perfect, she was so proud of herself and it was only 1:30, 6 hours left. She put her best white sheet on her bed and scattered it with red rose petals. Then she got some red candles and dotted them around the bed. And finally, a bottle of red wine and a glass on each bedside table. It looked wonderful; she hoped Daniel would like it. He'd told her the other day that his favourite colour was red. She couldn't wait.

Daniel knew that he had to pretend to be preparing for the stag do. Emily came in and jumped on the bed next to him. "Dad…" Said Emily slowly in the same voice she always used when she wanted something.

"Whatever it is yes, you can have it" Daniel replied also recognising the voice.

"No, it's not that" giggled Emily. "It's just, if you're telling mum that you're going to the stag do tonight, what do you do when it's the real thing?" Daniel hadn't thought of that. Then he had a brainwave.

"I'll just tell her I'm going for a drink with a couple of mates. The stag do isn't an overnight one so I'd probably live." He really loved his daughter and couldn't believe she was taking such a risk for him. "I'd better get changed, it's 7 o'clock." He came down 20 minutes later, his hair still damp from the shower. He was wearing his best suit and a lot of aftershave.

"Dad, you look great and everything but why bother wearing your best suit when you're just going to take it off straight away?" Emily giggled with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"Oi cheeky!" Daniel said pretending to clip her round the ear, "First impressions count. Stacy came into the room.

"Oh Dan you look wonderful" she said. "Oh go on it's 25 past you'll be late!" Daniel left. As he walked along the road he felt a mixture of excitement and nerves. He turned the corner and began walking down Gemma's street.

Gemma was sitting anxiously on the sofa in her best dress. She looked at the clock.

"Nearly half past…" She muttered to herself. The doorbell rang shocking her out of her trance. He was here! Gemma answered the door and sure enough it was Daniel.

"Hey" he said "I didn't bring anything because…" He never got a chance to finish because Gemma shut him up with a snog and sure enough 10 seconds later they were running up the stairs hand in hand. It was the best night of his life.


	5. Daniel returns the favour

Chapter 5- Daniel returns the favour.

Daniel stood outside of Gemma's door on that cold Sunday morning. "Come over on Tuesday, I'll tell Stace we're putting modular grades in and not to disturb us." He said winking. "Oh, Gem," He added.

"What is it?" She asked worried.

"Um…well…you see…" He stammered. Ok, now Gemma felt scared. Was he going to dump her? No, he couldn't, not after he'd just asked her over.

"What? _Tell_ me Daniel!" She said in the same voice as Emily had.

"Well, Emily knows…" He mumbled biting his lip nervously.

"Oh God…" Gemma muttered. "You told her! We are in big trouble! And I don't even know the girl!" Daniel knew how to wangle his way out of this one, with the truth for a change.

"Gemma calm down. She guessed, she may only be seven but she's a pretty smart kid. And she's my partner in crime. She likes me more than Stacy and she's keeping it secret if she can live with us if me and Stacy split up. Is that ok?" He explained anxiously.

"Dan you know that's fine. So see you Tuesday then and buy some strong vodka, I didn't get _quite_ drunk enough last night." Daniel smiled and said:

"Sure thing babe" and with a kiss, they departed.

Tuesday came quicker than Daniel expected. He went into the kitchen and Stacy was there. "Stace I forgot to tell you my colleague from work Gemma is coming over at 4 so we can put the modular grades in. It will take a pretty long time and a lot of concentration." Daniel lied through his teeth.

"That's fine babe" Stacy said "I'll leave you in peace." Now Daniel was confused. Stacy could usually sniff out a lie from a mile away.

It was 3:55, Stacy was in the kitchen and Daniel was sitting on the stairs anxiously, the vodka was already upstairs, it was a huge bottle of strong, strong stuff. Emily came and sat beside him and held his hand. "I'll keep her busy don't you worry," She said happily. "Can I meet her? Please!" Daniel smiled at her.

"Of course you can darling" he said smiling. Just that moment the bell rang. "She's here!" Said Daniel, just to imply the fact in case someone hadn't quite heard the 50 decibel doorbell ringing. He let her in. "Hi Gemma, this is my wife Stacy and my daughter Emily." Gemma gave a friendly wave to Stacy and then took Emily's hand.

"Ah Emily, I've heard so much about you" she said kindly, Gemma had just met Emily but already she had felt a bond.

"Well we better get these grades sorted," Daniel said smiling. As they sloped off together Emily said:

"Need any help mum?"

So, as the girls were doing housework Daniel was upstairs with Gemma. She'd had 3 swigs out of the bottle of vodka and was a bit tipsy.

"Daniel, I love these times when we get together like this." She said slurring her words and taking another swig.

"Me too babe, me too. But there's Stacy and Emily to think about as well." He replied but noticed Gemma looking a little disappointed. "Listen Gem, you give me something that Stacy could only give me 7 years ago, she can't be bothered nowadays."

"I don't see why you don't just divorce the stupid bimbo" Gemma said, now totally drunk out of her brains. "I've got a good mind to go down there and tell her exactly what I think." She got up and dressed herself. Daniel, who was sober, got up and dressed much quicker than her. As she made for the door he realised she was serious.

"No Gemma! Don't!" He yelled, but it was too late.


	6. Gemma reveals all

Chapter 6- Gemma reveals all.

Gemma stumbled down the stairs still clutching the bottle of vodka. Daniel grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back upstairs.

"Gerroffme Dan" she mumbled. Discovering he'd never win, he let her go.

She burst through the kitchen door, startling Stacy and Emily. "You…" She said, pointing at Stacy "Are the most unobservant bimbo I've ever met. You obviously don't care buttons about your husband or you would have sussed it by now." Stacy stared at her.

"I beg your pardon?" She said, confused slightly. Gemma smirked and had another gulp of vodka, and then she continued.

"Can't you see it? He loves _me_ not you! I thought he said you were good at sussing lies: Stag dos? Modular grades? Yeah right, all the time he's been in bed with me. How useless do you feel now Stacy?" Stacy stared at her, horrified. Emily put her head in her hands and sighed, she knew all cover was blown. "And what makes it worse, your daughter knew as well" Gemma said triumphantly. Seeing what he had to do, Daniel took Gemma's arm and said:

"Come on Gemma, back upstairs you're drunk." As she stumbled upstairs Daniel turned around, he knew what was coming next, the confrontation. He had to tell her the truth.


	7. Stacy's brave decision

Chapter 7- Stacy's brave decision.

Daniel walked shakily back into the kitchen, there were tears in Stacy's eyes. "Please tell me that was the drink talking" she whispered.

"I wish I could babe" Daniel said, his own eyes starting to fill up"Don't 'babe' me, how _dare_ you call me that after I've just found out you're playing away with that middle-age slapper." She said fiercely. This made Daniel angry.

"Don't you dare call her that! She loves me for who I am not just my bank account!" Stacy swallowed hard to try and keep the tears back.

"Fine," she croaked. "In fact I don't care, spend the night in our bed with _her_. I'll sleep on the sofa and in the morning me and Em will pack up and get out of your hair as soon as possible." Emily decided it was her turn to have a say.

"No mum," she said, "I'm not going anywhere." Daniel smiled at her, watery-eyed and she gave him a hug. "I'm staying here with dad" she said, "And there's nothing you can do to stop me." Stacy was horrified, but instead of arguing she just said:

"I'm going to bed, see you." Daniel and Emily went upstairs to bed as well, he was dreading the morning.


	8. The morning after the night before

Chapter 8- The morning after the night before.

Daniel woke up early, he stared at the ceiling thinking of the dream he'd just had about getting shot. He was quite confused, it was a blonde woman with the gun but he couldn't picture her face. But why would a blonde woman want to shoot him?

He turned over to go back to sleep and saw Gemma. At first he got a shock but then it all came flooding back to him. He sniffed, close to tears as he remembered every detail. He was confused at why; he'd got what he wanted hadn't he? So why wasn't he happy? Then he realised this was what he wanted but it wasn't the way he wanted Stacy to find out. Gemma snuffled then sneezed and woke herself up.

"Oww my head…" She mumbled, "Dan, what happened last night?" He could see she honestly had no idea, so Daniel decided to tell her, everything.

"Gem, you blew it, all cover, everything." He began "We went upstairs, you got totally drunk out your brains, stumbled downstairs and told Stacy everything, well done." Unexpectedly she burst into tears.

"Oh Daniel, I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean to I just got a bit carried away because I love you and I guess I was jealous of Stacy. Hang on…" She was a little confused. "If I told Stacy everything last night, where is she now?" Gemma asked.

"She stayed on the sofa, she said sleep with her in our bed and I'll get out of your hair in the morning. Em's staying though" he explained.

"Good good, it's all good" Gemma replied. Just then there was a little knock on the door. It was Daniel and Emily's special knock.

"Come in Em" Daniel called. Emily came in and sat on the bed.

"Mum's packing up." She told them as her dad gave her a hug. Gemma's heart ached; she felt she was messing this little girl's life up. She sniffed as her eyes prickled with tears. "Gemma?" said Emily, seeing the tears. "It's not your fault, and if it is thank you!" Gemma smiled through her tears.

"Emily!" said her dad appalled, "that was horrible, now go and help your mother pack." He told her sternly.

"That's the thing, she told me to tell you to get out of the room so she could get her stuff." Replied Emily.

They all went for breakfast. It was torture, Emily was the only one to be talking to everyone, but the frosty atmosphere was still there. "Can you pass the cornflakes please?" She asked.

"NO!" yelled the 3 adults. She got up from the table and ran to her room.

"I'll go…" Said Daniel getting up and leaving Stacy and Gemma in the kitchen. Gemma swallowed nervously.

"St…Stacy" she stammered nervously. "I'm really sorry about the things I said last night, I was very drunk." Stacy glared at her and said:

"Well Gemma, I'm afraid sorry isn't good enough. You still said it and nothing can change that."

"Well I can't turn back the clock and unsay everything, so if sorry isn't good enough well that's the best I can do." Said Gemma in reply. Stacy hesitated,

"You're right, I accept the apology for the things you said but I'll _never_ forgive you for you've done. It was awful, but then again that's what's expected from you middle-age slappers." She said. Uncontrollably Gemma launched at her and the pair started to fight.

Meanwhile, Daniel was upstairs with Emily. She was in tears. Daniel felt for her, he really did. But there was nothing he could do now. It was too late.

"I'm really sorry Emz, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." He said hugging her.

"It's ok dad, I understand that you're all a bit upset at the moment." Emily replied, wiping away the tears.

The moment was interrupted by loud shrieking from downstairs. "You left them alone?!" Emily asked shocked.

"I thought they'd either be nice to each other or not talk at all!" Said Daniel as he ran down the stairs with Emily.

When they got to the kitchen they tried to prise the women apart. Emily grabbed Stacy and Daniel grabbed Gemma who had a hold of Stacy's hair. Eventually she gave up, smoothed her clothes down and checked if her own hair was ok.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Daniel asked them both. "I leave you alone for 5 minutes because Emily is upset, expecting you to mend bridges and call a truce but no, all you do is fight more! It's like being in a nursery school!" He was angry. And boy, did they know it.

Stacy and Gemma both bit their lips and mumbled apologies. Then Stacy said: "Right, I'm all packed and ready to go." She took all her bags to her car with help from Daniel. When everything was packed and in the car Stacy hugged Emily and said: "I'll email you my new phone number Em and anytime you want to come and stray just ring." Emily didn't say anything because she knew she'd cry, but she nodded. Stacy understood, nodded at Daniel and Gemma and walked out. She was gone.


	9. Emily's Birthday

Chapter 9- Emily's Birthday.

Emily's birthday was the 3rd of April. Two weeks after Stacy left. She still sent a card with £5 in and a big bar of chocolate. But the best present was off Daniel and Gemma, a mobile phone! Emily was so happy, so got Daniel, Gemma and Stacy's numbers straight away. Her mum rang the phone to say happy birthday.

It was a really good day but Gemma was worried, she had missed her period in March. 'Oh God', she thought. 'I need to go out, _now_.'

She went downstairs to see Daniel, "I have to go out for a minute, sorry." She said.

"That's fine" Daniel said, "We'll do cake when you get back."

When Gemma got back she went straight upstairs to the bathroom. She pulled what she'd bought out the bag and shakily unwrapped it. The pregnancy test. Gemma sat and looked at it, swallowed, and took the test.

She shut her eyes when she was finished, then opened them and looked at the test. It was positive, she blinked just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She wasn't , it was there in big block capitals: PREGNANT. Gemma sat down and burst into tears.

Fifteen minutes later she stopped crying and plucked up the courage to go downstairs. Daniel heard her come in and without turning round he said "Where've you been? We've been waiting." Emily looked up and saw Gemma's tear stained face.

"Gemma?" She said "What's wrong?" Daniel turned around and Gemma began to cry again.

"Oh Daniel," She wept "I've been so stupid!" Daniel was confused.

"How?" he asked, "You're not stupid!"

"Oh Daniel, I'm pregnant!" She sobbed. Daniel was amazed but Emily was horrified.

"No," she said. "No!, No!, No!, No!, NO!" She ran up to her room still shouting and slammed the door. "How could they?" She screamed to herself. "On my birthday, when they've just given me this!" She held the mobile phone in her hand and a surge of anger seeped through her. She couldn't hold it back any more, she hurled the phone at the mirror and there was an almighty crash as it smashed into a million pieces. Emily threw herself onto the bed and sobbed her heart out.

Daniel had heard the crash and ran upstairs. He held his breath as he opened Emily's bedroom door. He thought she was dead when he saw the mirror smashed on the floor and Emily lying on the bed motionless. He panicked and was just about to call for Gemma when he heard a snuffle from the bed. Daniel went and sat beside Emily and hugged her. "Ssh… It's ok darling it's ok." He soothed her. Emily got up and picked up the phone that lay in the shards of glass. "Be careful with all that glass." He warned her. She checked the phone, thankfully it wasn't broken but she turned around and looked at the glass, then looked back at her dad.

"Sorry about the mirror, I guess I was angry at how quickly you've moved on and, I'm scared about going back to school tomorrow." She said tearfully. He hugged her again and said:

"School? What's wrong with school?" She sighed and knew she had to tell him.

"We had to do a holiday diary for English and I wrote about the affair and everything." She began.

"Well that's fine, I don't mind and I'm sure Gemma and your mum won't either." He replied.

"It's not just that" said Emily "I'm scared I'm going to get bullied because I'm now the only one in my class whose parents have split up and my teacher hates me and before the holidays she said I had to read mine out to the class and I don't _want_ to dad!" She burst into tears. "What am I going to do?" she asked. Daniel smiled and said:

"I'll talk to your teacher if you're that worried."

"NO!" said Emily "Oh dad please, no, don't go and Mrs Fisher PLEASE!" She fell to her knees begging.

"OK, ok I won't see her but if you write a heart-touching story you won't get picked on. I'll help you after I hoover this mess up." Gemma came up and hoovered the floor while they sat and worked the diary out.

Soon enough the diary was up to scratch and Emily had fallen asleep. Gemma and Daniel went into their room for a chat about the baby.

"We can't let it get round the kids yet." Daniel said "The things they'll say about you will be awful seeing as they all know I was married." Gemma sighed.

"We can tell staff though, now we know it's for real. Then we'll put it in the bulletin when we're ready." She said.

"Good idea. But we can tell people we're together I suppose because the longer we keep it secret the worse it's going to be when it gets out." Daniel said. Gemma agreed, then they went to bed. Tomorrow was another day.


	10. Back to school

Chapter 10- Back to school.

The morning was such a rush. Emily refused to get up, Gemma was up at 5 o'clock stressing and Daniel was busy screaming at Emily to get out of bed. He was all ready and Gemma was in the bathroom, she'd been in there just over an hour. As Emily was eating her breakfast she said to Daniel: "How much make up does she want to put on?" He just said:

"Em, eat up and I'll drag her out so you can brush your teeth."

"No need," came a voice behind them. "I'm out." Emily ran upstairs and Daniel turned around, hugged Gemma, and then kissed her.

"Now, now you two no time for that, we've got to go!" said Emily. Daniel smiled then unlocked the car for her, made sure he had everything and when he was sure, he locked the door.

In the car on the way to school Emily was unusually quiet. Gemma didn't quite know what to say, she was scared.

"Emily" said Daniel.

"Yes dad" she said.

"If anyone asks you if you had a good Easter tell them yes until you read out your diary. I'm sure your form tutor won't mind a little white lie." Daniel said logically.

"Why?" Emily asked confused.

"Because you won't get picked on if you lie to hide it. They'll think you're so worried to tell that they'll feel sorry for you and won't bully you. But if they do, please tell someone sweetheart." He answered as they pulled up at Trafalgar primary.

"Bye dad, bye Gemma," she said kissing them both and hugging Daniel.

"Bye bye my superstar, have a gorgeous day." He replied squeezing her. With that she grabbed her bag and ran off. "I hope she'll be alright," he said to Gemma as they drove up to the school and into the car park.

"She'll be fine," said Gemma. They strolled across the car park hand-in-hand and passed a group of year 10 boys.

"Ooh sir!" They all said and wolf-whistled. Gemma felt herself go bright red but Daniel wandered coolly past them, ignoring every word they said. But as they got into the classroom Gemma could have sworn she heard him mutter:

"Stupid smoking idiots" under his breath, but she could have been mistaken.

They dumped their stuff in their classrooms and went to the staffroom. This time they weren't holding hands but they were linked. They walked in and everyone looked at them. Then Jenny plucked up the courage to ask them the question everyone else was desperate to ask.

"So, are you two, _together_ now?" She asked. Her and many others had seen the signs of _something_ and were planning on matchmaking. They all looked up eagerly.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we are" replied Daniel with a smile.

"And…" Began Gemma and Daniel nudged her with his elbow.

"And?" Jenny said excitedly. Gemma looked at Daniel, he shook his head and widened his eyes as if to say 'don't tell them'. She ignored these signs.

"And we're having a baby!" She blurted out happily. For a moment there was silence and then a round of applause started. The applause was drawn to a silence by the bell.

"Well," said Louise "Let's see what the hellhole brings today." As the teachers went to their tutor rooms for registration, Daniel pulled Gemma to the side and said:

"Why the hell did you do that? I thought we agreed!" Gemma held his hands and said:

"I'm sorry Daniel, I had to tell someone and if it wasn't the staff it would have slipped in my tutor which would make things worse for us." Daniel understood, kissed her and then headed to his office. Because he was a senior member of staff, he had a shared office with Michael, the head of year, Daniel was only a deputy. Gemma was in a total daydream during tutor. Her class came in and sat down. "Sophie, wipe your shirt off your face and tuck your make up in…I mean!" She said without thinking.

"I get it…" Mumbled Sophie getting up.

"Miss, what's up with you? Are you on drugs?" asked Emma. Gemma ignored her and signed into MSN ready for a long day of chatting to Daniel.


	11. Last lesson, could it really be so bad?

Chapter 11- Last lesson, could it really be so bad?

Gemma's last class of the day came in, her year 8's. Daniel also had a class at this time so they chatted on MSN. Little did Gemma know that her laptop was connected to her interactive whiteboard and the whole class could see her conversation. 'Hey babe, how's your lot?' Daniel had said to her. She replied by saying:

'They're actually quite good, yours?'

'HOOLIGANS! Lol' he typed back. She giggled

'Who's in your class?' She asked.

'That total thickhead Jessica, the most annoying kid in the century of the world Scott and queen of the chavs Rebecca.' Gemma giggled again and sent:

'I need a nice photo of you babe.' Daniel sent a naked photo of himself to her and she wrote underneath. 'Ooh, that's nice.' The whole class just stared open mouthed. Harry quickly took a photo of the picture and Gemma's message and began bluetoothing it around the class before hissing:

"Miss…The…whiteboard's…on…and…everyone…can…see what you're doing and…sir's…naked." Gemma looked at the board, switched the laptop off and ran out the room. She ran into Daniel's classroom in a panic and just screamed at him:

"The whole class saw the photo you sent!" Daniel felt a stab in his stomach. He took Gemma outside to talk about it.

"What picture do you reckon they're on about?" asked Scott.

"I dunno" said Rebecca putting on more eyeliner. "Why don't you check?" Scott went round the desk to the laptop to see the photo.

"Good God!" He shouted. Daniel heard and went into the classroom just as Scott had his finger on the switch to turn the board on.

"I'd think _very_ carefully before doing that if I were you." Daniel said sternly. Scott took his hand away from the switch and apologised under his breath.

"It's alright sir, Harry's sent it round the whole year group so we've seen the pic and the message underneath!" Yelled Darren. The whole class glared at him and went:

"Well done Darren!" Daniel had a wicked glint in his eye and an evil smile.

"_Thank_ you Darren, now we know _exactly_ who's responsible." Darren put his head in his hands and groaned. At that moment, Mr Jackson the head teacher walked in. Daniel dropped Gemma's hand like it was hot coal. Mr Jackson looked sternly at Daniel and said:

"Can I have a word, sir?" Daniel glumly followed him outside and Gemma looked after his class and set them a 5 minute task. They were still out there when the bell went. The kids went home and Daniel and Mr Jackson went back into the room. Gemma turned to leave but Mr Jackson said:

"No Gem don't, leave I need to talk to you both." Gemma sat down next to Daniel. "Right I hope you understand the seriousness of what's happened." He began. "Actually, it's not very serious about the photo and the baby and everything else. That's just going to cause a couple of week's humiliation." They both breathed a sigh of relief. "But, I'm afraid I have to put both of you on a two week suspension."

"Why?" asked Gemma. "_I_ should be on suspension not Daniel; it's _my_ fault because I left the screen on."

"But you were on MSN when you should have been teaching. If you're going to be teachers you need responsibilities, you should be thankful I'm not sacking you. I'll see you in two weeks." Replied Mr Jackson. They walked out disappointed, ashamed and ten minutes late for Emily.


	12. Explaining to Emily

Chapter 12- Explaining to Emily.

Daniel was just about to go and pick Emily up when she walked through the door. She had tears in her eyes. Gemma went to pack her stuff up. Daniel got in the car with Emily and all of his belongings in the boot. "Em, I'm so sorry I didn't come to get you Mr Jackson had to talk to me and Gemma because we've been suspended for telling people about the baby too soon. Gem is still getting her stuff and Malcolm has offered to give her a lift home." Emily was horrified.

"They can't do that can they?" She asked in amazement.

"Certainly looks like it." He replied shamefully. As they pulled up at home there was a _very_ familiar looking blue car outside the house. Emily put her head in her hands and groaned loudly. Daniel looked at her.

"Mrs Fisher," she explained. "What did I do this time?" As they got out of the car Daniel was shaking. Had she heard about the suspension? Did she know what had happened? She came over and said:

"Aah, hello there Mr…"

"Call me Daniel," he interrupted.

"Ok Daniel… Can we talk please?" Emily barged through the door and went upstairs saying nothing. Daniel took Mrs Fisher into the living room. "I'm a bit worried about Emily, her diary was very touching but I think she's taking this a lot harder than she shows. She's bottling up her emotions and one day it's going to get too much for her, I would talk to her about her feelings if I were you." Mrs Fisher explained.

"Thanks for telling me that, I'd never have known. I'll talk to her." He said amazed. Mrs Fisher left and as soon as she heard the door close Emily came downstairs and said:

"What did the fish want?"

"Oh, nothing much, just to talk about your diary." He got up and said: "Well I'd better start dinner." He went to the kitchen. Fifteen minutes later Gemma walked in the living room, saw Emily's glum face and said:

"I guess he told you about the photo then." Emily was startled for a moment, paused for a couple of seconds before whispering:

"Photo? _What_ photo?" Gemma was slightly taken aback by this reaction but continued:

"You know, the one of him naked on my whiteboard." She said in an innocent voice. Emily got up and ran into the kitchen, went up to Daniel and tearfully said:

"Early exposure of the baby? Yeah right." Daniel was mortified and angry at the same time as she ran upstairs in tears. Emily went into Daniel's room and took £25 out of his wallet. Then she saw the photo of her, Daniel and Gemma. She stole it, ripped her face off it, threw a few things into a bag and went downstairs.

As she stood by the front door, Emily could hear her dad shouting:

"How could you tell her Gem?" Emily yelled back:

"How could you lie to me like that?"

"Shut up Em!" He bellowed. This pushed her over the edge. She dropped the crumpled photo on the doorstep and left the house. Where she was going was another question.


	13. Where's Emily

Chapter 13- Where's Emily?

Daniel felt guilty for yelling at Emily and went upstairs to see her. He went into her room, she wasn't there. He went into his room, she wasn't there and neither was the photograph of the 3 of them. Daniel began to panic, he ran into Emily's bedroom again and saw her pyjamas and teddy were gone.

"Emily?" Daniel shouted. "Em, where are you?" He went back downstairs, sat on the settee ad began to cry. Gemma came in and sat next to him.

"I'm sorry we argued, don't cry babe we'll be alright, you and me." She said soothingly.

"It's not that," he explained, "its Emily, she's missing! I think it was when we were arguing." Gemma was shocked.

"Call the police," she said. Daniel picked up the phone and dialled 999.

"Hello?" said the officer at the end.

"Errm, hello I'd like to report a missing child, she's been missing for about 3 hours now." Daniel stammered

"I'm sorry but we can only take legal action if she has been missing 24 hours." Replied the officer.

"HELLO? Are you stupid?" Daniel yelled, "My daughter is missing and you're suggesting we wait 21 more hours? What if that's 21 hours too late? She's only 8 you pathetic people, I'll find her myself if that's what it takes!" He slammed the phone down and broke down in Gemma's arms sobbing. "What are we going to do?" He asked.

"Just what you said we'd do, find her ourselves." She replied smugly.

"How?" Daniel asked confused.

"We'll create a video and send it to all teachers we get on with, creating a search party then we'll split up and look everywhere. I'll video you then while you send it around, I'll print loads of photos of her off so they know when they see her." They took the video and in the space of ten minutes there was a crowd at the door. Gemma organised everything. "Ok," she began "Michael and Daniel, you two stay here in case she comes home, Malcolm, you come with me and search all the nearby streets. Louise, you and your partner search around the pool. Jenny, you and your partner do the woods and Helen and Lynne go to the park. If you see her ring Daniel quickly and don't let her get away." They all departed. They were out until 9 o'clock searching and calling.

Meanwhile, Emily had found an old abandoned army camp in the woods. She picked up an old penknife, it was still really sharp. She was so angry and confused, she did it without thinking, she slashed her arm. Immediately it began to bleed, she'd cut deeply into her arm. She stumbled and lost her shoe, dropping the knife next to it. It was still blood covered. She carried on walking, leaving a trail of blood behind her. Eventually she collapsed of blood loss.

It was midnight; the search party had given up and gone home. All except Jenny who was still searching the woods. Jenny was good friends with Emily and was worried sick, she was crying as well. All of a sudden she saw something. It was Emily's shoe.

"Adam, look it's Emily's trainer!" She cried excitedly. He looked over.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes!" She said "They're her favourites, she told me on the training day when she had to come in." Adam looked down.

"Hey, is that a knife next to her shoe?" Jenny picked it up.

"Yes, and it's got blood on it. Look there's a trail of blood. I don't know about you but I'm following it because I think it'll lead to Emily." As she walked through the leaves, Adam followed.


	14. Dead or Alive?

Chapter 14- Dead or Alive?

When the end of the trail came, there was a puddle of blood and just as Jenny suspected, Emily was there. She was unconscious, pale white with her arm bleeding heavily. Adam got on the phone for an ambulance while Jenny got on the phone to Daniel. He barely had a chance to say hello before she screamed at him. "We've found her! We've found her!" He started asking things like: 'Where?' and 'How is she?' Jenny told him about her needing to go to hospital but Daniel was already in the car with Gemma driving. Adam came off the phone and said:

"They said to get her out of the woods to the entrance. I'll carry her."

"Ok, Daniel did you hear that? We'll be at the entrance to the woods." Jenny explained. When they carried her out Daniel was already there. He scooped her up in his arms and hugged her.

"You silly, silly girl." He whispered softly, he nearly died when he saw her arm. Jenny gave him the knife and said:

"I think this is what she used because we found it next to her shoe." Daniel put Emily down and gave Jenny a huge hug.

"Than you so so much Jenny. Everyone else gave up, but you didn't." Jenny smiled watery-eyed.

"I was doing all I could for two close friends." She explained. The ambulance pulled up and Emily was carried in.

"Only one of you can come with her." Explained the paramedic. Everyone pushed Daniel forward. "Looks like it's you then." The paramedic said. Gemma followed in the car.

When they got to the hospital Daniel refused to leave the room. He watched as they stitched her arm up and waited for her to wake up. Gemma sat next to him. Tears prickled in Daniel's eyes. The doctor came in and said:

"She's lost a lot of blood and will need a donor." Daniel stood up.

"Me." He said. The doctor looked at him with a serious expression.

"One thing," He said. "Emily has tested as an O+ blood group. She _has_ to have O+ blood donated."

"I _am_ O+." Daniel replied.

"Are you sure? Because any other blood group will kill her. Asked the doctor seriously. Daniel swallowed anxiously.

"Me and my ex wife, who's her mum, both had blood tests last year and we were both O+s." the doctor took his word for it and took the blood. After it was given to Emily, Daniel and Gemma sat by the bed. Daniel had Emily's hand. "This is all my fault." He whispered tearfully. "If I hadn't had lied then my little girl would be alright." He sniffed and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry Em." He whispered. "Sorry for being a useless dad. Please wake up babe. I love you." He began to cry even harder.

"I love you too dad," came a voice from the bed, then Emily's eyes flickered open. She was alive.


	15. A stubborn child

Chapter 15- A stubborn child.

Daniel smiled as his daughter threw her arms around him and whispered in his ear: "I'm so sorry for being so stupid." Daniel hugged her tightly and said:

"Me too. We had a search party looking for you." Emily was amazed.

"Really? Who was in it?" She asked.

"Well, me and Michael stayed at home to see if you'd come back, Malcolm and Gemma searched the streets, Louise and her boyfriend Chris searched around the pool, Helen and Lynne went to the park and Jenny and Adam searched the woods. They found you at midnight even when everyone else gave up." At that moment the whole search party came in. They'd bought a huge get well soon present for Emily. She was shocked.

"I _really_ don't deserve this," She said. "Thank you, but I really don't." Jenny smiled and gave her a hug.

"As long as you're ok, nothing else matters." She said and everyone agreed.

"Of course, you'd still be in the woods if it wasn't for Jenny." Said Lynne. Emily shuddered and said:

"Yeah, I'd like to talk to Jenny about that… alone, if that's ok." Everyone else smiled, nodded and left the room. "Even you dad!" She said. Daniel left the room as well. "Jenny, I'd just like to say thank you so much for saving my life. Anyone else could have just left me there, but not you, you're a good person." Jenny didn't know what to say, she was touched by what Emily had said.

"Emily, I _would_ do that for a friend, it wasn't a favour it's natural. You're a great friend to me and I wouldn't want to lose you ever." Jenny replied. Emily burst into tears and croaked.

"I'm sick of crying, all I wanted to say was thanks for saving my life and I end up hysterical again." At that moment the doctor came in. Jenny had to leave and Daniel and Gemma came in.

"Well Emily, you seem fine. You just have to have a bandage on your arm and a tiny plaster on the inside of your elbow where the donated blood was transfused. You can be discharged tonight." Emily was thrilled. Daniel thanked the doctor and as soon as he had left Emily said to Daniel:

"Yes! I can go to school!" Daniel shook his head.

"Em you should rest it first," he said and Gemma nodded in agreement, but Emily was having none of it.

"Oh dad!" She argued. "That's not fair! It doesn't hurt, I can write and I'll be bored stuck at home all day. You don't want me bothering you all day do you?" Daniel realised he wasn't going to win and said:

"Fine, you can go." Emily was thrilled. She packed her stuff and left the hospital an hour later. As soon as she was outside, Emily switched her phone on. There was a text from her mum. It said:

'Do you want to stay here on Saturday?' Emily asked her dad if she could and he said it was fine but he could only pick her up at 9. Emily texted back:

'Yes please but dad will come at 9am.' She got an 'ok' back and was excited.

Saturday came quickly. Emily packed her bags and went to Stacy's; she was excited and nervous to go. She wasn't sure she wanted to. But she was in the car now.


	16. Emily stays at Stacy's

Chapter 16- Emily stays at Stacy's.

When they pulled up at the house Daniel gave Emily a kiss and said: "I'll not come to the door; I don't want to start another row. Be good." Emily nodded, jumped out the car and waved as he pulled away. She rang the bell nervously. Her legs were jelly. Stacy answered the door and hugged her.

"Ow…" Emily mumbled as her sore arm was knocked. Stacy let go.

"Sorry Em. Did I hurt you?" She said and then she saw the bandage. "Christ! What happened there?" Emily sighed and told her everything. "So _she_ took control of my daughter's life once again. I wish she'd butt out. If she'd just have kept her knickers on in the first place none of this would be happening. It's not hard you know." This made Emily furious.

"Well at least Gemma's nice to me and wants me to be what I want to be not what others want to see." She yelled. This was like a slap in the face for Stacy, but she argued back:

"And you! You _knew_ and then went off with them you traitor! What kind of a daughter are you?" Emily was even angrier at this:

"Who the hell do you think you are? When you had that affair with Jack 2 years ago you came grovelling back and dad was kind enough to let you back you witch! And now you're calling _me_ a traitor for what _he_ did. You're such a hypocrite!" She yelled back. Stacy froze for a second. There was silence. Emily wasn't quite sure what happened but she could feel pain like she'd never felt before. It was like a dog savaging her face. Then she realised it. Stacy had slapped her, hard. Emily ran upstairs to her room and didn't come out all night. When Stacy had slapped her, she'd hit Emily's nose as well and it was spurting a scarlet fountain.

The next morning at 8 Emily went down for breakfast. Stacy was all mumsy and nicey-nice, butter wouldn't melt. Just like nothing had happened. But she couldn't fool Emily.

"Were you tired last night darling? You went to bed very early." She asked sweetly.

"Mmm…" Mumbled Emily not bothering to ask why her mum had made her nose four times bigger than it already was. After breakfast they sat and watched T.V. until Daniel came. As Emily was leaving, Stacy hugged her and said:

"Bye angel, see you soon, look after yourself." Emily said nothing until she was at the end of the street and then burst into tears.

"Em? Em what's up? Are you ok?" Asked Daniel concerned.

"No dad, I'm not ok. Last night was awful; I never want to see that witch again!" Now Daniel was confused.

"Oh my god Em, did she hit you? Your cheek is crimson and your poor nose is all swollen." Emily nodded. "What happened anyway?" He asked.

"We argued. She called me a traitor for living with you and I called her a witch. But she only slapped me because I brought the thing about Jack up. When she slapped me it was really hard and she knocked my nose as well." Daniel sighed but looked furious. Just then Emily got a text off Stacy. She gasped.

"What is it? Is it her? Read it out." He growled.

"It says: 'I'm fighting you dad for custody over you. That slapper isn't a fit mother. See you in court.'" She read out. Daniel was horrified. She couldn't do that, could she?

"Surely the court will want you opinion Em! And you said you never wanted to see her again. And she slapped you. And Gem is pregnant. We have loads of defence!" Emily looked at her dad sympathetically.

"I don't think it's that easy dad." She said.


	17. Preparing for court

Chapter 17- Preparing for court.

Gemma was horrified. She was really stressed out. The court case was next week, during their suspension; Emily would have to be taken out of school. Daniel took Emily to school on Monday and said: "Don't mention the court case to anyone, ok?" Emily nodded.

"I wasn't planning to, don't worry. Have a good day off." Daniel smiled.

"I'm sure we will, first baby scan." He smirked. Emily slammed the door and stormed off. Obviously she hadn't warmed to the idea yet. Daniel drove home; he had something important to do before they went to the clinic.

He arrived back at the house, Daniel was ready to go. "Wait, before we go I want to say something. Gemma, I love you loads and we can get through this together and I don't know about you but I want our baby to be brought into a proper family. So Gemma, will you do me the honour of being my wife?" He got on his knee and opened the ring box. Gemma was speechless for a moment. Then she sank down on the settee sobbing. Daniel felt tiny; this was the biggest mistake he'd ever made. "Sorry Gem, I shouldn't have…" He never got a chance to finish; he was drowned out by Gemma screaming:

"YES! YES! Of course I'll marry you!" Daniel was thrilled; he couldn't wait to tell Emily. They went for the scan. The baby was fine.

When Emily got home Daniel took her to one side and said: "Em, you must tell me if you're not happy about this but…"

"You haven't done anything stupid have you dad?" She asked sighing. Daniel swallowed and said:

"I've errm…proposed to Gemma and she's said yes." Emily just stared at him open mouthed.

"Oh my god…You can't dad you're still legally married to mum, that's bigamy!" Daniel burst out laughing.

"Oh Em you do make me laugh, the wedding won't be until after the divorce comes through!" Emily sighed with relief and smiled the happiest he'd seen her in a long time.

"I'm fine with that then." She said. "Better her than the megawitch." Daniel laughed and gave her a hug. He was glad she agreed with it, she just had to agree with the baby idea. He decided not to mention it but at tea time Emily piped up: "How was the scan? Is the baby ok?" Gemma looked at Daniel smugly but he could detect a hint of sarcasm in Emily's voice. He just said:

"Yeah, it's fine, very healthy." And that's all that was said. Daniel decided to talk to her after tea while Gemma was washing up. He went up to her room and sat on her bed. "Em, I know you're angry about getting a new baby brother or sister but it's making Gemma very upset and stressed out. Even if you don't care, just pretend for her sake. Please?" He said calmly. Emily looked up.

"Why should I care about a screaming stinky baby that's going to make my life hell?" She asked bitterly. Daniel sighed, shrugged and got up.

"Don't say I didn't try." He said and walked out. The court case was tomorrow and he was stressed out. Emily had said to her teacher:

'If anyone starts to take the mick out of why I'm not here just tell them the whole truth, the whole class.' She had also told her best friend Libby who had invited her over for tea after the court case. Emily was scared, they all were. But they had their best clothes ready and no intentions of running away. Tomorrow was the big day.


	18. The battle for Emily

Chapter 18- The battle for Emily.

Everyone was up early for the court case. When they all looked presentable they got in the car and went. Daniel pretended to be concentrating on the road, Gemma was trying to stop herself shaking and Emily looked out of the window biting her fingers nervously. It was a very tense atmosphere.

Stacy was already at the court when they arrived, when they walked through the door she nodded at Daniel, smiled at Emily and glared at Gemma. Gemma glared back ad Emily joined in. The moment was interrupted by the judge saying: "Are we ready to proceed?" They all nodded and followed the judge into the big room. "Court proceed." He said and everyone sat down. "Defence calls Stacy Lawson to the stand." Stacy got up. "Stacy, why do you believe _you_ should have custody over Emily more than her dad?" The judge asked.

"Well, Emily is my daughter and I love her a lot. Her dad did a bad thing and I don't want her growing up in a bad environment like that." Daniel stood up and yelled:

"But you _hit_ her! I'd never lay a finger on her!" The judge banged on the table.

"Mr Lawson, please sit down!" He yelled. "Is it true you hit Emily?" Stacy swallowed.

"No! Of course I wouldn't hit my own daughter!"

"Thank you Stacy…Defence calls Daniel Lawson to the stand. Daniel why should _you_ have custody over Emily?" Daniel took a deep breath and said:

"Well, me and Em are closer than father and daughter. We're basically soul mates and I remember Emily coming back from her mum's in tears because she'd been hit and her poor nose was swollen. She also said that she never wanted to see her mum again." Stacy was shocked.

"Thank you Daniel. Defence calls Gemma Atkinson to the stand." Said the judge.

"You can't call a pregnant woman to the stand!" Said Daniel. Stacy gasped. Pregnant? How could he? Then she saw the engagement ring and was furious. "If you really want my opinion you should ask _Emily_ what _she_ wants seeing as today is about her." The judge nodded.

"Defence calls Emily Lawson to the stand." Emily shakily got up. "Emily, who do you want to live with and why?" He asked.

"I want to live with my dad and Gemma because they respect me for who I am not what they want me to be and _she_ hit me! Right in the face and made my nose bleed. I hate her and I hate her and I never want to see her again!" Stacy got up.

"You selfish little cow!" She screamed. "First you betray me by not telling me what was going on, then you go and live with them and then I invite you round and you start an argument. No wonder I hit you and I'm glad I made your nose bleed. You're a stupid spoilt brat and if you never want to see me again well I feel the same. Id only just hit you again if you lived with me."

The judge got up and said to the jury: "If that wasn't a confession then I don't know what is." The jury nodded.

"We've reached a decision. Emily gets to stay with Daniel and Gemma!" They all cheered and in the car on the way to tell Emily's teacher the good news Daniel said:

"We'll celebrate with pizzas and a movie tomorrow so you can go to Libby's." They pulled up at the school and Emily ran in, ran into her classroom and shouted:

"We won! We won the court case! I'm living with my dad!" Everyone cheered and Miss White gave Emily a hug and said:

"Congratulations Emily! I hope the day off actually helped!" Emily smiled and said:

"It did miss, believe me." And she told the whole class everything. The bell rang just as she'd finished and she went to Libby's. She had a great time. Little did she know what was expecting her at home.


	19. Baby or no baby?

Chapter 19- Baby or no baby?

Emily opened the door and walked in the house. The house was silent. "I'm home!" She yelled. Still silence. She ran upstairs, "Dad?" She shouted. "Gemma?" No answer. She knocked on the bathroom door, and then went in. Empty. She went over to Daniel and Gemma's room, held her breath expecting the worst and opened the door. Empty again. Emily went downstairs and sat down. All of a sudden the phone rang shocking her out of her panic. She answered it. "Hello?" She said.

"Em?" Came Daniel's voice at the other end.

"Dad! Where the hell are you? I've been worried sick!" She babbled.

"I'm so sorry Em, I'm at the hospital." Emily was shocked.

"What's happened?" She whispered tearfully.

"It's Gemma, we were watching a DVD and she got up to get a drink and just collapsed on the floor. I would have phoned earlier but you were at Libby's and I didn't want you worried while you were having fun." He answered shakily. Emily began to cry silently. Tears rolled down her cheeks but no sound.

"She's not going to lose the baby is she?" Emily asked croakily.

"It's unlikely. I just think the stress of the court case is getting to her and her blood pressure is sky high. They said they're going to keep her in overnight and I'm going to stay with her. Lesley said she's coming to look after you. I didn't ask her, she rang to see how the court case was, I told her what happened and she said she's coming. She'll be there soon." Emily was gob smacked. Never before had she heard her dad be so prepared. It was unreal.

"Um…Right ok then so Lesley is coming over _now_ and she's staying until you get back or until I go to school?" She asked just to double check.

"Yes, listen Em, I'm going to have to go and see how she's doing but cheer up, she'll be fine." Daniel said.

"Dad! Wait!" Emily said. There was a moment of silence.

"What is it?" He asked. Emily swallowed.

"I'm sorry." She said tearfully.

"For what?" He asked.

"For pretending I don't give a damn about the baby, I care really it's just…" She sobbed, there was a pause.

"Just what?" Daniel asked concerned.

"Promise me that when the baby comes I'm not going to fade out of the picture and it just be baby, baby, baby." She said. Daniel was shocked that Emily felt this way.

"Em, of course not! Even when you're 80 and I'm ancient 100 you'll still be my special little girl. Nothing can change that." He said. He smiled as he heard her laughing.

"But are you sure you won't love the baby more because it's Gemma's child and I was _hers_?" Asked Emily not even wanting to say Stacy's name. Daniel sighed.

"Em, you're going to love being a sister. And then when we get married everything will be perfect!" He said happily.

"Yeah, I bet you said that with mum as well. I _wish_ Gemma was my mum not _her_." Said Emily tearfully. "You've got to go and so have I, Lesley's here."

"Ok then," Daniel said. "Bye Em, have fun, love you." He put the phone down. Emily answered the door and almost at once Lesley saw she'd been crying and gave her a hug.

"Hey chick, how's things?" She said sympathetically.

"Not so good. There isn't as much money coming in, Gem's getting stressed out and dad is trying to please everyone. Then I was stupid and ran off and did this." She waved her arm in the air. "I suppose it's _my_ fault dad got suspended just like everything else." She burst into tears. "I wish I could do something to help our money problems Lesley. It's all my fault." Lesley sighed.

"No it is _not_ your fault!" Lesley said. "But I have a plan. You start a petition to get them on paid suspension and I'll gather the search party together and we'll start trying to persuade Mr Jackson to get them on it." Emily smiled and nodded. "But don't tell them; consider it as a wedding present." Lesley said. Emily's face fell into panic. The wedding was in four days! Daniel and Gemma had everything sorted apart from Emily's bridesmaid's dress. Now she was scared. "What's up with you? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Laughed Lesley.

"Yeah, big problem, _not_ funny." Emily babbled. Lesley looked confused. "My dress try on is tomorrow and Gemma's supposed to be going with me. What if she's not ok by tomorrow?" At that minute the phone rang. Emily picked it up. "Hello?" She said.

"Hey Em, it's dad." Daniel said.

"How is she? Is she ok? Is the baby ok? When are you coming back?" She yelled down the phone.

"Yes, yes everything's _fine_ it was a false alarm and I'm ringing to tell you we're coming home _now_." He replied.

"So I'll be able to do the dress thing tomorrow? She asked excitedly.

"Of course you can. Gemma's very excited for it." Said Daniel happily. Emily jumped around screaming after she'd put the phone down. When she got tired she flopped on the settee and waited.

Half an hour later Daniel and Gemma got back. Emily gave them both a hug and when she gave Gemma hers she whispered in her ear. "Thanks for caring Em." Emily smiled, thanked Lesley and then went to bed.

Emily was up early in the morning ready to go. Gemma wasn't used to early mornings during her suspension time. Emily had to wear her uniform because she was getting dropped off at school afterwards. "What colour are you thinking of?" She asked.

"Well you can get two coloured ones so I was thinking of blue on top and yellow skirt. But if you'd rather have all one colour that's fine." Gemma said. Emily, who was traumatised by the idea of a blue and yellow dress, said:

"All one colour sounds good, what about blue?" Gemma nodded. They arrived at the shop. Emily's legs turned to jelly. There was a gorgeous blue dress, not too girly and the perfect size. It didn't cost much and it matched her favourite shoes. They bought it and Emily was buzzing with excitement. "Thank you for today Gemma, I love it." She said as they pulled up at the school.

"You're welcome Emily. I'm glad you're happy." Gemma replied. As she drove off she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness as she passed the other school, she actually missed it. Ok, so her tutor group wound her up and annoyed her. But she realised that she didn't mind. She'd been stupid and lost it. But on the positive side today was Tuesday, the wedding was Saturday and then she'd be back to work on Monday!

When she got home Daniel was smiling, looking _very_ pleased with himself. "What crazy stunt have you pulled off now?" She asked, scared.

"Lesley and everyone who searched for Emily that night went to see Mr Jackson, told him what happened and now, we're on _paid_ suspension!" Gemma was overwhelmed. "And Emily started a petition so _she_ was involved as well!"

"We owe that kid so much! Agreeing with everything, trying to get us our jobs back. She's so sweet." Said Gemma. Daniel nodded.

"That's my Em." He said smiling. She'll make a great bridesmaid." Gemma agreed.

"So is Michael your best man?" She asked.

"Yep." Said Daniel. "I'm excited now." Gemma nodded.

"I've picked Katie to be my maid of honour and I'm staying at hers the night before the wedding because it's bad luck for us to see each other before it." Daniel nodded in agreement. He felt nervous and excited.


	20. The wedding

Chapter 20- The Wedding.

The morning of the wedding was hectic. Everyone had to be up at 7. Emily changed into her dress straight away and helped Daniel get ready until the hairdresser came. When she finally arrived she did Daniel's hair first. She combed it, straightened it then cut it. It was such a good job that even when he shook his head it stayed in place. The bell rang while Emily was getting her hair done. It was Michael; he helped Daniel get things sorted. Emily had her hair in a high ponytail twisted into a neat bun. It looked fabulous. Michael came in the room and complimented it. He began chatting to Emily about the wedding. All of a sudden he jumped up and ran out the room. All Emily heard was: "Daniel? What time do we have to be there for? Daniel? Daniel?" He came back in the room. "He's not there. Trust him to go AWOL on his own wedding day." Michael sounded panicky. Emily smiled.

"Leave it to me." She said.

Katie's house was mad as well. Gemma was rushing around and then the hairdresser came. The plan was that Katie paid the hairdresser for her, Daniel, Gemma and Emily to get their hair done. Katie got hers done first because Gemma's would take longer. Gemma sorted out the flowers, her dress and her make up. Her dress was beautiful; it was floaty and white with little pink roses pinned on the hem. She was happy that she'd managed to get something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Her old thing was a necklace with a heart charm on it that she'd had since she was tiny. Her new thing was her dress. Her borrowed thing was a pair of white high heels belonging to Katie and her blue thing was a bangle. Today was going to be the best day of her life.

Emily knew exactly where to find her dad. It was a place that they used to go with her mum. They used to have picnics there. At the park, next to the river and she was right. Daniel was there skimming stones, sitting on a rock. He looked scared. She went down and sat next to him. "Dad, what are you doing? This is the most important day of your life!" She said. Daniel sighed.

"I know Em, it's just…" He began.

"You're not having second thoughts are you? Gemma is the best thing you've ever had. Are you really going to let that go?" She asked.

"I do want to marry her. Just, do you think I'm moving on too quickly from your mum?" He asked her quietly.

"No I don't. Stuff mum, today is dedicated officially to you and Gemma. Don't even think about her. When you were with mum who did you think about?" Emily said.

"Gemma, all the time, I couldn't get her out of my head." He replied.

"Well if you can't get someone out of your head maybe they're meant to be there." She said. Then she saw the look on his face. "Oh no…" She began. "Dad please, please tell me that the divorce has come through. It hasn't has it? That's why you're getting cold feet about the whole thing!"

"No, no, of course it's come through! I just needed time to think. Now come on, we've got a wedding to go to!" He said jumping to his feet. They both began to run, hoping to make it on time.

Meanwhile everyone was at the church; Gemma was at the front with Katie and Michael. For some bizarre reason Daniel and Emily were going to be walking down to meet Gemma instead of the other way round. Gemma didn't care, as long as they tied the knot. "Where is he?" She asked worried. Michael sighed.

"Gem, I'm sorry, he went AWOL an hour ago. I thought he'd turn up that's why I didn't tell you." Gemma felt like she'd just been stabbed.

"He's had second thoughts? Oh, of course he has. I was mad to think anyone would want to marry me! Especially someone like Daniel." She sobbed.

"Oh Gem, don't say that! I'm sure he wants to marry you!" Said Michael comfortingly.

"Ok then, so why's he gone AWOL on me? If he loves me he'd be here. But no, he's run a mile!" She shouted, tears falling down her face.

"So, is just outside the church door a mile?" Asked Katie. "That's hardly AWOL is it Michael?" Michael turned red and said nothing. Katie wiped Gemma's eyes quickly and the music began to play.

Outside the door, Daniel was bricking it. But as soon as he heard the music he took Emily's hand and walked down the aisle. Gemma smiled as he stood next to her. The ceremony began, it was wonderful. "Gemma repeat after me. I promise to love you." Said the vicar

"I promise to love you." She replied.

"To cherish you" he continued.

"To cherish you."

"And to help you through anything." He finished.

"And to help you through anything." She said gazing into Daniel's eyes.

"And Daniel, repeat after me. I promise to care for you."

"I promise to care for you."

"To be faithful to you."

"To be faithful to you."

"And to protect you."

"And to protect you." Daniel said squeezing Gemma's hands.

"Gemma Atkinson, do you take Daniel Lawson to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The vicar asked.

"I do." Said Gemma.

"And Daniel Lawson, do you take Gemma Atkinson to be your lawfully wedded wife?" He asked.

"I do." Said Daniel.

"If anyone here knows of any reason why these two should not be wed, may they speak now or forever hold their peace." The vicar said. There was silence. "No one? Then I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Everyone cheered as they walked out the church.

The party was loud and crowded. Emily loved it. Gemma and Daniel knew that the worst bit was yet to come. Gemma had her dad's speech to look forward to and Daniel had the best man's speech. Michael tapped on a glass and Daniel and Gemma groaned. "Now for the speeches. First up, Steve." Gemma put her head in her hands. She knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Well… Ever since she was a little girl, Gemma dreamed of finding the right man, getting married and having children. She always locked herself in her room after reading Rapunzel and she often got stuck, hoping for her 'Prince Charming' to rescue her. This was quite often me." Everyone laughed and Gemma turned red. "But," he continued. "I agree with her first two dreams and she's found all of that with Daniel. But if I _ever_ find out she's pregnant, I don't know _what_ I'd do." He finished. Daniel was shocked.

"You haven't told him?" He hissed at her.

"No…But it's on the to do list, I haven't had a chance because I haven't seen him." She replied.

"A simple phone call?" He asked.

"Errm…Well…Oh look! Michael's speech now. We'll talk about this later." She stammered. Daniel rolled his eyes as Michael stood up.

"Well, when Daniel first came to work at the school I always thought he'd have an eye for the ladies." Michael began. Everyone was giggling especially Emily who'd had a bit too much champagne. When the laughter stopped, Michael continued. "But _never_ did I expect him to go for Gemma. I thought they were a really unlikely couple at first but now I can't see them with anyone else. Congratulations mate!" There was a round of applause and then the music started for dancing. Daniel took Gemma outside for a chat. He had to find out what was going on.


	21. Tell the truth

Chapter 21- Tell the truth!

When they got outside Daniel took Gemma by the hands and said: "Gem, we're married now and that means total honesty. What's going on?" Gemma sighed. Why was he makes such a big deal about it?

"There's nothing to it Dan! He just doesn't know that I'm pregnant." She said calmly. Daniel was furious.

"Why Gemma? I thought you'd be buzzing to tell him that he's going to be a granddad!" Daniel shouted. Gemma burst into tears. "Gem?" He whispered sitting down next to her. "What's up? I didn't mean to upset you. I was only asking why." Gemma felt angry. She was sick of questions.

"Ok, fine. I was scared alright? I'm terrified to tell him because I know he'll kill me. It'll just be another disappointment to him, just like everything else I've done in my life. I'm his biggest let down. All the rest of my family have been successful in life and I'm a teacher who's had an affair and got herself pregnant. There, I said it. Happy?" She yelled, tears running down her cheeks. Daniel was gob smacked.

"Gem, I didn't mean…I didn't know…Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered and gave her a hug. "I'll tell him and believe me he'll accept it!" Christine nodded.

"Thanks babe. Better you than me. Sorry I didn't tell you. My mum won't mind, she always wanted grandkids." She said happily. Daniel swallowed nervously when all of a sudden Gemma threw her arms around him and kissed him. Emily came outside.

"Hey dad, everyone's looking for you inside and…I'll just go back inside and let you two play tonsil tennis," she said. Daniel and Gemma broke away.

"We were coming in anyway." He said slightly embarrassed. Emily laughed.

"I was joking." She said. "But Gemma's mum wants to dance with you for some bizarre reason." Daniel burst out laughing.

"Well why not?" He said. "Talk to him Gem. You'll have to because I'm dancing." He whispered in her ear as he left. Emily looked confused, Gemma shook her head.

"Don't ask." She said. Emily shrugged and followed Gemma back inside. She went to get a drink while Gemma looked for her dad.

Steve was at a table on his own watching Daniel and Marie dancing. Gemma cringed at the sight of her mother dancing and Steve laughed. "Come here love." He said, pulling her close for a hug.

"Errm…Dad can I talk to you?" She asked. "Outside, if that's ok." Steve nodded and got up.

"I could do with some fresh air" he said. Gemma looked around for Emily; she was with her cousin Laura, she wouldn't notice they were gone. She swallowed nervously and followed her dad outside. She had to tell him, but how?


	22. Gemma comes clean

Chapter 22- Gemma comes clean.

They sat on the wall outside the pub. It was a warm, cloudless night. The stars gleamed above their heads like Christmas lights and the moon was the star on top of the tree. Gemma began her confession with sweet talk. "Dad, I love you so much and you mean so much to me. You were always there and always useful to me. I just wish I could have been the same for you." She said.

"How do you mean sweetheart?" He asked.

"Well I always felt the most useless out of the three of us. Fran lands herself in fashion designing with her own labels and stuff and Ross has that acting job which is making him millions. Then there's me. The teacher. The let down of the family and now I've made it a whole lot worse." She said, tears in her eyes.

"What's happened Gemma?" He asked confused. She burst into tears.

"Oh dad! You'll hate me! You'll go bananas! You'll disown me! You'll…You'll…" She sobbed.

"Oh Gemma, It doesn't matter what happens, I'll never disown you and you'll always be my baby girl. Now tell your old man what's up." He replied soothingly.

"Ok…I'm pregnant. I have been for four months now. But I only found out two weeks ago. I've been meaning to tell you but I've been so scared of what you'll do to me." She choked. There was more silence. Then all of a sudden her dad burst out.

"I'm going to be a granddad! At last! I've been waiting for this for so long!" He ran all the way around the field shouting happily. Daniel and Marie came outside.

"What's up with him? No more champagne for _you_ Mr!" Marie said as he whizzed past.

"No Marie, you don't understand! We're going to be grandparents!" He yelled. Marie's mouth dropped open.

"What? Is this true?" She asked Gemma. Gemma nodded. "How long?" Asked Marie amazed.

"Four months, but I only found out two weeks ago. I wanted to tell you in person." Gemma said shakily. All of a sudden Marie slapped her.

"I always knew you were the family let down Gemma Atkinson!" She screamed.

"Yes, well believe me; I've known it as well!" Gemma yelled back and then stormed off. Marie was shocked. She hadn't known that Gemma had felt this way for so many years. Steve took her to the side and told her everything Gemma had said to him while Daniel went looking for her. He found her by the fountain, crying. He hugged her and reassured her. When she stopped crying he said:

"A bit of reverse psychology there wasn't there?" Gemma laughed.

"Yeah, weirdly." She said. Emily came out, took one look at Gemma's red cheek, grabbed her hand and took her to the toilets to put cold water on it. Emily knew too well what that shade of red was from. Gemma didn't have to tell her.

"Mothers eh?" Said Emily. "What's the point? At least she didn't make your nose bleed." Gemma laughed uneasily.

"Let's just say she didn't take the news of the baby very well." She said. Emily looked at her.

"You didn't tell them?" She asked surprised.

"I wanted to tell them in person. I thought my mum wouldn't care and my dad would go off it. It was the other way round." Gemma explained. Marie came into the toilets and put her arms around Gemma.

"I'm sorry." She whispered in her ear. "I accept it. I'm glad I'm going to be a grandmother and I'm sure you and Daniel will be fantastic parents."

"So I'm not the family let down then?" Gemma asked.

"Of course not!" Marie said. I'll remember that _you_ are the child that gave me my first grandchild."

"Thanks mum," said Gemma. They went back to the party and didn't come home until three o'clock. They forgot that it was the 5 month scan tomorrow.


	23. How long?

Chapter 23- How long?

Daniel was woken at 11 by the sound of the phone. He was on for a long time. Gemma woke up at 11:45 and he had just put down the phone. He looked worried. "What's up honey?" She asked.

Turns out we should have been at the clinic an hour ago for our five month scan." He replied.

"Five?" She asked in horror. "I thought it was only four!" Daniel nodded.

"So did I babe, so did I." He said. "I got us another appointment for quarter past twelve."

"So we'd better get ready then." Said Gemma. He nodded. When they were done he went and told Emily where they were going. It only took 10 minutes to get there so they were slightly early. The doctor let them in early because they were there.

"How old is the baby?" He asked putting on some rubber gloves.

"Five months." Said Gemma proudly. They looked at the screen and the doctor was shaking his head. Daniel began to panic.

"What's the matter? The baby _is_ healthy isn't it?" He asked. There was silence.

"The baby's _health_ is fine." Said the doctor.

"So what's the problem?" Asked Gemma. The doctor sighed.

"The problem is, this isn't a five month old baby I'm looking at, it's an eight month old baby." He said.

"I thought it was only four months old." Said Daniel. Gemma was confused.

"How long have I been pregnant?!" She shouted, shocking Daniel and the doctor.

"Eight months, it will be on its way soon. Do you wish to know the gender?" He asked. They looked at each other.

"No." They both said together.

"Very well." The doctor said.

On the way home Gemma was still in shock. They walked in the house and Emily was waiting for them. "Hey, how's the baby?" She asked.

"Three months older than we thought." Replied Daniel. He sat down and told her everything. It was crazy.


	24. Back from suspension

Chapter 24- Back from suspension.

Daniel and Gemma went back into work as if the past two weeks had never happened. When Gemma got into her classroom she changed the name tag above her board from 'Miss Atkinson' to 'Mrs Lawson.' Her class noticed straight away. "Aww Miss! You married him!" Said Emma. "That's so sweet! Congratulations!"

"Thank you Emma and you'll be glad to hear that you're getting rid of me for a bit longer. My maternity leave starts on Wednesday." She said.

"You're pregnant?" Asked Sophie. "Wow, that's so cool!" Rebecca looked up.

"Oh my God, like, get over it. It's a baby, big whoop." She said putting her eyeliner away and getting out her mascara.

"Rebecca! Don't put make up on in my classroom!" Said Gemma, but didn't tell her to take it off. The bell went. "Enjoy your day everyone!" She called cheerily and waited for her first class.

Daniel's morning wasn't as easy. His paperwork had built up so much that it was spilling off the desk and he had a couple of phone calls to make. It was lucky he had a free period first lesson. But he had a year 9 German class second. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'It can't all be good. At least I don't have my year 8s.' His first phone call was to a parent whose son kept missing lessons for a smoke. Daniel knew this because he'd caught him a couple of times. Of course the mother denied the fact that her son smoked and stayed on for half an hour arguing until Daniel got sick and put the phone down. He decided not to make any more calls until lunch time and managed to get most of his paperwork done. Then the bell rang and Daniel got ready for his first class of the day. He met Gemma on the way to the class, he was still angry from the argument over the phone. "Hey hun, what's up?" She asked linking him. She felt proud to be his wife and didn't care who was watching.

"Aargh…Parent I had to phone up." He replied.

"And...?" She asked, waiting for him to continue.

"And we argued for half an hour. It reminded me of Stacy!" He said. Gemma laughed.

"Sounds like it." She said. When they got to their classrooms, they kissed and left. Daniel wasn't looking forward to it at all. But he had to act normal. The class were already in so he went in.

"Guten Tag die Klasse!" He said in a lively way.

"Guten Tag monsieur." They droned. Daniel sighed at the stupidity of his class. He felt like this was going to be the longest hour of his life.

"No…Sometimes I think that most of you shouldn't be in this set. This is a top set class and so far you've disappointed me." He snapped.

"Whoa sir, calm down. We were joking with you for crying out loud." Said Rachael. The rest of the class nodded in agreement.

"Sorry guys bit of a stressful morning with my year 10s. I hope you lot will make better year 10s next year." He said. "Tell you what, to make up for my moodiness, free lesson." The whole class cheered. Daniel smiled and began to mark coursework.

Gemma had a free period and was telling Katie about the scan. "So, really you're eight months pregnant instead of five?" She asked. Gemma nodded. "Wouldn't you have noticed before you did if that was the case?"

"But Katie, that _is_ the case and I _didn't_ notice so bigger idiot me." Gemma replied shrugging. Then she doubled over in pain.

"Gemma? Are you ok?" Katie asked. There was no answer so she shouted to Helen. "Helen! Go and get Daniel from his lesson then cover him. Tell him Gemma's in pain." Helen left.

"I'll…be…fine…" Gemma wheezed. Daniel arrived with Lesley, breathless.

"Gem, are you ok? Speak to me!" He said.

"I think the baby's coming." She said, tears streaming down her face.

"What? It can't be! You've still got a month!" He said panicking.

"Well I can't flipping help when it decides to come can I?" She yelled.

"Phone the hospital." Said Lesley to Katie, "Tell them we'll drive her in. We don't want the kids gawping. You take her now Dan, I'll get Emily tonight and take her to mine. Ring when the baby comes." She told him. Daniel nodded and got Gemma to the car. Their first child together was about to be born.


	25. A new baby

Chapter 25- A new baby.

Gemma was rushed straight to A & E as soon as she got there. Daniel went with her and held her hand all the time. After two long hours her waters eventually broke and half an hour later Gemma was holding her first child in her arms. "Congratulations, it's a girl!" the doctor said. Daniel smiled happily; he had another daughter to be proud of. He was proud of Gemma as well. He gave her a hug and a kiss, and then held in his arms, his tiny newborn daughter. Then he went to ring Lesley and tell her the good news.

Lesley rang Emily's school and the secretary gave Emily the phone in the office. As soon as she put the phone down she ran back into the classroom and shouted: "I'm a big sister! The baby's been born!" The class gave her a round of applause and Libby gave her a hug.

Daniel and Gemma decided to wait until Emily came before naming her. It was only fair.

Five past three took forever to come in Emily's opinion. But as soon as she got out of school Lesley was waiting for her and they went to the hospital. Emily was really excited.

When they got there, Lesley gave both Daniel and Gemma a hug and congratulated them while Emily took one look at her beautiful baby sister and loved her instantly. "We waited until you got here to name her." Said Daniel. "It's your choice as well as ours.

"Ok, this sounds like a family thing so I'm going to go." Said Lesley.

"Ok thanks Lesley." Said Daniel as she left. "So, what will it be? Andrea?" He asked.

"No!" Said Emily and Gemma together.

"Ethel?" Said Gemma.

"You can't do that to a baby! It's just mean!" Exclaimed Daniel.

"Says him who suggests Andrea!" Said Gemma. Emily laughed.

"Sophie?" She asked.

"No! Reminds me too much of Sophie in my tutor!" Said Gemma.

"Then what about Sian?" Asked Emily. Daniel and Gemma looked at each other and nodded.

"Sian's good." Said Gemma.

"Sian Lawson, I like it! Sian it is!" Said Daniel excitedly. Then Gemma gave her to Emily to hold. All of a sudden Sian grabbed Emily's finger.

"She's holding my hand." Whispered Emily, tears of happiness in her eyes.

"What made you think of Sian?" Gemma asked when Daniel had gone to text round everybody. Emily thought for a while.

"I really don't know." She said eventually. "Guess I just liked the name." Gemma smiled.

"Well I think it's perfect, and you know what else I think?" She asked.

"What?" Asked Emily.

"I think Sian loves her big sister Emily and always will do." She replied. Emily laughed and gave Gemma a hug. They carried on chatting and eventually Daniel came back with 2 cups of tea and an orange juice for Emily. Gemma took a drink. "That..." She said. "Is the nicest cuppa I've had in ages." Daniel smiled.

"Yeah, good what those vending machines can whip up!" He said sarcastically. The moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Emily went and opened it. It was Katie. She went and gave Gemma a big hug.

"Congratulations honey! Where is she? Can I see her? What's her name?" She babbled, firing questions like rockets.

"She's right here and she's called Sian." Replied Gemma. "She's beautiful isn't she?" Katie smiled and nodded.

"She's gorgeous Gemma, going to look just like her mum." She said.

"Well she won't stay gorgeous for long then!" Laughed Emily.

"Oi! I might be going through ever-increasing pain but I can still clip your ear if you get cheeky!" Gemma laughed.

"I think she's lovely Gemma, but I must dash, I've got a lot to do! Bye Dan, bye Em!" Katie babbled and rushed out the door.

"So..." Said Daniel. "Who are the godparents going to be? I think Michael, Katie and we need one more..."

"Stacy?" Asked Gemma, and then burst out laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face! It was a picture!" Emily was laughing too.

"What about Jenny?" Asked Emily. "I mean, she did us a huge favour so we should do her one back." They both nodded.

"Right so it's settled, Katie, Jenny and Michael." Said Gemma.

"Yes," Daniel agreed. "When do we tell them?"

"When we see them next!" Said Gemma. At that moment Jenny and Michael came in. They hugged Gemma and then went over to the cot.

"Aww Gem she's gorgeous! She's going to be the double of you!" Said Jenny.

"What's her name?" Asked Michael. Emily came in with four cups of coffee and said:

"She's called Sian, isn't she beautiful?" The both nodded. Daniel swallowed anxiously.

"Errm...We were going to ask you guys if you wanted to be godparents, along with Katie." He said. Jenny and Michael looked at each other, smiled and said:

"We'd love to." Emily smiled.

"Dad, who are _my_ godparents?" She asked.

"Errm...Lesley, Michael and Gemma..." He answered.

"But Gemma's my _step_mother now. She can't be both can she?" Emily said.

"No, I can't. I was thinking what about Fran? I know she hasn't met Em yet but I was thinking of inviting her down for a while. If that's ok with you Dan?" Gemma asked hopefully.

"That's fine, is she coming tomorrow?" Daniel replied. "I was talking to the doctor before and he said you could leave at seven." Gemma nodded.

"Cool, I'll give her a ring now on the hospital phone." She said getting up and leaving.

"She's obviously been planning this for a while." Laughed Emily. Daniel nodded.

"She's always talking about her sister. She lives in France now doing her fashion designs. Gem hardly sees her. But listen Em, Fran knows nothing about the affair or the baby. All she knows is Gemma got married to her new boyfriend. So don't mention it ok?" He said. Emily nodded.

"I swear I won't." She said and they gave each other a hug. Gemma came back in.

"She's coming tomorrow. I said you'd pick her up from the airport, is that ok?" She said anxiously.

"Yeah that's fine, I'll bring Em as well if she wants to come." Daniel said smiling.

"Yeah!!" Shouted Emily happily. "What time?" Daniel looked at Gemma.

"Seven o'clock tomorrow night. I'll cook us a meal while you're gone, shall I?" Gemma said.

"That would be a good idea." Said Daniel kissing her. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.


	26. Sisters and surprises

Chapter 26- Sisters and surprises.

Daniel woke up at 1pm. He didn't know _why_ he'd slept in so late but figured he must have needed it. He got changed and went downstairs. The girls were cleaning the kitchen and Sian was asleep. "How long have you two been on at this then?" He asked.

"Well, we started with the bathroom, and then we did the sitting room, then Emily's room and now here. We were waiting for you to get your lazy bum out of bed so we could do our room and the spare room." Answered Gemma scrubbing the sink. "And little missy here, has been an absolute star!" She said hugging Emily. Daniel smiled.

"Well done Em, good girl, is there anything I can do Gem?" He asked, eager to help.

"Yes'" said Gemma handing him a list. "I'm making lasagne tonight, will you be a gem and get the ingredients?"

"Of course babe," he said kissing her. Emily cringed. Sian started crying.

"I better go and see to her, back in a second Em." Said Gemma running upstairs. While she was gone Emily washed the dishes, dried them and put them away. When they'd the dining room they moved on to Daniel and Gemma's room, it was fairly tidy and the photo Emily had ripped up had been replaced with a new one. Emily got bored quickly and went to do the spare room. They were all done by three o'clock.

Half six came quickly and Daniel and Emily had left for the airport. Sian was playing in the cot in the sitting room and Gemma was making the lasagne. It was old recipe of her mum's and was supposedly very good. It took her twenty minutes to finish and only five minutes to cook. She put it in the oven and went into the sitting room. She'd had a very busy day and lay down on the settee. In half a minute she was asleep, forgetting she'd left the oven on.

Meanwhile, Fran's plane had just come in. When she finally came out she smiled at Daniel and Emily.

"Hello, I'm Francine, Gem's sister." She said in a very strong French accent.

"Wow! You're French! I never knew you were French!" Exclaimed Emily.

"Yes, my mother's French and my father is Italian. I picked up the French accent, Ross picked up the Italian accent and poor Gem got the best of both worlds!" Fran explained and then she turned to Daniel. "So you're Christine's new piece of stuff then are you?" Daniel nodded.

"I believe I am." He replied anxiously.

"Well...I'm going to have to keep my hands off you myself because quite frankly, you're gorgeous!" She said. Daniel blushed bright red and said nothing. Emily laughed nervously; she could deal with her dad having an affair behind her _mum's_ back, but not Gemma's.

"Don't look so worried! Let's get these cases into the car and see how Gemma's doing.

Daniel turned the corner to go down the street and saw smoke coming from on of the end houses. His hands began to sweat on the steering wheel as he gripped it tighter. When they got out, no one reacted faster than Emily who whipped out her phone and called 999 straight away. Daniel kicked the door down and he and Fran ran in. Through the smoke and flames he found Gemma unconscious. "Fran! Grab Sian out the cot and get out!" He shouted as he began to drag Gemma out. She did as she was told. After five minutes of struggling, he eventually got her out. By this time the ambulance and fire engine were there. Gemma and Sian got rushed off in the ambulance straight away and Daniel broke down in Fran's arms. She beckoned Emily over to join in the hug. Then, she got in the car and drove them to the hospital. It was a long and daunting night for Daniel, sitting next to two beds, staring at the unconscious bodies of people he loved. Tears filled his eyes, but he said nothing.


	27. The aftermath

Chapter 27- The aftermath.

The night was long and Daniel hardly got any sleep. At seven o'clock Gemma regained consciousness and the doctor came round. He checked her blood pressure and heart rate, both seemed fine. The only memories were the burn marks on her face. He checked Sian's heart rate and his face went white. "What is it? What's happened?" Asked Daniel panicking.

"Well...Her heart rate's gone down. We'll have to take her to intensive care." He said solemnly. Gemma whimpered and Fran hugged her.

"She'll be fine babe, she'll be fine. Don't worry." She whispered comfortingly.

"Errm... I think you _might_ have clocked by now that me and Gemma had a baby together." Daniel said anxiously.

"Well I figured that one Einstein!" Fran laughed. Even Gemma had a smile on her face.

"I'll go and get drinks, Gem, tea?" Daniel babbled. Gemma nodded.

"I'll have a hot chocolate please." Said Fran.

"Right, Em what do you want?" He asked.

"I'll come with you dad, decide when I get there." She replied jumping up. As they walked down the corridor Emily said: "Dad, you confuse me."

"How's that?" He asked.

"Well, you said, 'don't tell Fran about the affair or the baby, but you just told her about the baby and even if you hadn't she would have found out anyway." She pointed out. Daniel laughed.

"Em, of course she was going to find out about Sian. I meant that the _affair's_ a secret, the baby was a _surprise_." He explained making two cups of tea. "Will you do the hot chocolate for me and what do you want?"

"I'm having a hot chocolate as well so I'll make them both." She said pouring the water in the cups. Daniel smiled, he'd suddenly realised how quickly his little girl was growing up. She'd be going into year five after the summer! They walked back up the corridor in silence.

The doctor was in the room when they got back.

"How is she?" Daniel asked.

"Not much better, a slight improvement in her heart rate but a lot of smoke got into her lungs so her breathing is a bit wheezy. But, if you are willing for this to happen, we have a special, safe operation where we can pump her lungs to make them clean again. Lucky she's a newborn, couple of years later we wouldn't have been able to do this. But I can tell you one thing, two in fact." Said the doctor.

"What?" They all asked.

"No matter what you pick, she'll survive it and you can go home anytime you want." He said. Gemma smiled, but then burst into tears. Daniel hugged her as the doctor left.

"What's up? That was good new wasn't it?" He asked.

"Yes, but what about the house?" She whispered.

"Listen, the flames were only bad in the kitchen and sitting room, they didn't have time to spread anywhere else. The rooms will just be smoke damaged, if damaged at all." He said comfortingly. "Then you can take Fran to work tomorrow. You should go to take your mind off this." Gemma nodded and began to pack her stuff.

Five minutes later they were in the car going home, as the doctors were operating on Sian. They said they'd phone when they were done. When they got home there was a fireman there waiting to talk to them. Daniel, Gemma, Fran and Emily got out of the car. He came over to them. "Right, the living room is fine, just a bit singed, might have to have a couple of replacements. Corridor and stairs are fine, just need a bit of a clean, same with upstairs rooms. But I suggest you get the kitchen refurbished, nothing important in there was there?" He asked. Daniel and Gemma shook their heads, Emily saw the chance and grabbed it.

"Well..." She began. "There was the cat in there..." She had a serious look on her face, while Daniel and Gemma avoided eye contact with each other. The fireman began to panic.

"Errm... Well... We didn't see any cats in there so, I'm afraid you no longer have a cat." He said solemnly. Emily sighed.

"It's ok..." She said. "Seeing as we didn't have one in the first place!" Daniel and Gemma couldn't hold it in any longer, they both burst out laughing, which started Fran off, which started Emily off. The fireman looked confused, then eventually started to laugh. Then he had to leave. Daniel and Gemma thanked him, then went in, hand-in-hand, scared to what they'd find. The corridor and stairs could easily be re-painted. The living room needed re-painting and a new settee. "The telly's fine!!" Emily shouted hugging it excitedly. Then, they all went into the kitchen.

"Looks like we need a new kitchen." Said Daniel. "And a new cat." They all giggled.

"I'm sorry Dan, I'm sorry Em. Sorry we got into this mess. Sorry I ruined your house. Sorry I nearly killed our baby. Sorry I..."  
"Gemma, shut up! This isn't your fault!" Daniel shouted angrily. Gemma burst into tears and he put his arms round her. "Sorry babe, that was bang out of order." He said.

"No, you were right, I was being an idiot." She said.

"I think we should all just go to bed and forget the argument altogether." Said Emily softly. Everyone agreed and went to bed. Work and school for everyone tomorrow.


	28. Secrets and lies

Chapter 28- Secrets and lies.

The morning was yet again, a rush. Gemma woke up late; Emily forgot breakfast and took a lifetime to brush her teeth. Daniel and Fran were standing at the door waiting. Eventually they were ready and in the car, it was the usual routine, drop Emily off first, then head up to the older school, unload the car, dump the stuff in classrooms, then head off to the staff room. Everyone had heard about the fire, but no one knew about Fran. Gemma introduced her while Daniel whispered to Lesley: "Where's Michael?"  
"In his office. Careful, he's a bit moody," she hissed back.

"Right, I'm going to see him." He whispered back and slipped out the side door.

The breeze was gentle as he walked through the school. Four year eight girls walked past. "Hi sir!" Three of them said, the fourth kept her head down, looking at the ground, saying nothing. He just smiled and went into the office. Michael was looking very stressed, trying to sort out papers but constantly dropping them.

"Michael, what's up? You look _really_ stressed out. You can tell me you know." Daniel said. Michael sighed.

"Dan... I've done something really stupid. And I mean _really _stupid." He said, scared.

"What is it? Tell me, you're scaring me." Daniel said.

"I... I..." He stammered, then took a deep breath. "I slept with Jessica Stevenson." Daniel's jaw dropped.

"You _WHAT_?!? You didn't! Please tell me you're joking!" He shouted.

"Keep your voice down! I woke up this morning, saw her and knew it was a mistake. I've told her it won't get that far again and she seemed fine with it." Michael mumbled.

"WON'T GET THAT FAR?!?!?!?!" Daniel yelled. "SO YOU'RE CONTINUING THE AFFAIR BUT NOT SLEEPING WITH HER? It's still illegal!" He hissed. "Won't her parents be curious to where she was?"

"She said she was going to her friend's house, then straight to school." Michael replied smugly.

"Get that smirk off your face! You make me sick Michael Longstaff!" He stormed out the office where he ran into Gemma and Fran. "Come quick, your room, need to talk." He babbled to them. Gemma followed.

"Dan, what's up? You look like you're in a total strop." She said.

"I'll explain when we get there." He growled. Gemma immediately shut up and followed. When they got to her classroom, Daniel shut all the windows and blinds and locked the doors. "Sit down Gemma, I need help with something." He said.

"Why? What's happened?" She asked.

"Not much, just Michael's been sleeping with Jessica Stevenson." He said. Gemma was horrified. "And I need your help to make him see sense." All of a sudden there was a knock at the door.

"Daniel, its Michael, let me in." Came a voice. Daniel looked at Gemma and she nodded. He let him in and re-locked the door.

"Michael," said Gemma, "you've got to see _sense_. You could lose your job for this _and_ get locked up. You have to end it with her now."

"Gem believe me I've wanted to for ages but I don't know what to say." He said tearfully, Daniel tutted and walked out. "And it hurts me even more to know I've upset Dan by it." Gemma sighed.

"I'll go and talk to him." Fran said leaving the room; Daniel was leaning against the wall next to the door. "What's up Dan? You seem to have thrown a total moody at this whole thing. Are you jealous of him?" She asked.

"No! Of course I'm not jealous, it's just... I've had an affair... recently, and... My wife found out and left me. I lost everything, Emily was all I got, and the house." He said. Fran stared at him open mouthed.

"So you had an affair with my sister and your wife found out. What a home wrecker!" She said.

"No, no! It wasn't like that at all! It was my fault! I was _glad_ to get rid of Stacy! I just don't want to see that girl's life ruined!" He shouted. Then went back in. "Mike, all you've got to say to her is. 'I think we should end this now. There's too much at stake. There's your future to think about and I could lose my job _and_ get arrested for this.' It will be fine and she'll understand." He babbled. Michael stared at him amazed.

"Ok, I'll do that now." He said and ran off. Fran turned to Gemma.

"I heard about the affair." She said. Gemma looked at Daniel. "Oh, don't look at him; I'm smart enough to work it out myself. Do mum and dad know?" She hissed.

"No... And it's going to stay that way." Said Gemma. Fran nodded, tutted and then stormed off in a major huff.

Meanwhile, Michael had just told Jessica it was over and was slightly depressed. He headed over to room two which was deserted at this time. He shut the door, leaned against the wall and began to cry. He stopped when he heard a sob from the other side of the room. He got up anxiously and walked over, only to find Jenny crying her eyes out. He sat next to her and gave her a hug. "What's up Jen?" He asked.

"Me and Adam just broke up; he said he was sick of me." She sobbed. "What about you?" Michael swallowed.

"Well, I slept with Jess Stevenson and I've just told her it was over and I'm feeling depressed. Looks like we're both back to the sad world of singles." He said.

"You know Michael, you've always been a good friend to me, but I just realised how incredibly lush you are." She said, but then again she had been drinking. Still, Michael moved in for the kill and she responded. In five seconds flat they were snogging each other's faces off. It looked like a new relationship was about to blossom.


	29. More relationships

Chapter 29- More relationships.

Fran stormed down the food corridor, still furious. She was so busy concentrating on the affair that she walked straight into Ian. "Woah, woah, watch where you're going beautiful!" He laughed grabbing her by the arms so she didn't fall. Her heart began to flutter, he was gorgeous! They looked into each other's eyes and he grabbed her hand and led her to the cupboard in the food room. They got the shock of their lives when they opened the door. Karen and Catherine were in there kissing. Ian and Fran shut the door and began to slowly back away, then turned around and ran out the door hand-in-hand. The staff toilet was just along the corridor and it had a lock on, which was a bonus to them and as a result, they were in there until lunch time seeing as Ian had three free periods that morning. Before they left the room, Ian wiped the lipstick off his face and tidied himself up and Fran sorted her hair out. When they got out they hugged and Fran went back to Gemma's classroom. She strolled through the door and Daniel and Gemma were sitting talking.

"Hii Dan, hii Gemma," she sang, skipping over to a seat and sitting down. "Isn't the weather gorgeous?" Daniel looked at her.

"Well, seeing as it's chucking it down with rain. I'd say, no." He said sarcastically.

"Anyway, _someone's_ in a good mood. Where've you been?" Asked Gemma. "Met someone who tickled your fancy?" Fran blushed.

"No! I was... errm...finding my way round." She babbled.

"Oh, so your skirt _normally_ has the label sticking out the front and your lipstick is _always_ smudged across your face and coming off is it? Asked Daniel smirking.

"Ah... Well... You see... I... It... SHUT UP!!!" She yelled blushing. "So what if I did meet someone?"

"Was it Michael?" Asked Gemma.

"NO!" Yelled Fran. Daniel smiled,

"That's a yes then... You're a bad liar Francine Atkinson." He said.

"As a matter of fact it wasn't Michael, for your information it was Ian." Fran said smugly. "And yes, I do fancy him and yes we will be seeing each other again. All questions answered?" Daniel and Gemma nodded then shut up.

Meanwhile, Michael was sitting in his office. He couldn't concentrate. All he could think about was Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. He'd even began to doodle her name all over scrap bits of paper in his office when finally; he threw down his pen and went to see Daniel. When he went outside there was total silence. At lunchtime. He was confused and wondered if he was having hallucinations. He took it as chance and strolled along calmly. All of a sudden, loud music blasted from the Astroturf. Michael nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked to the Astroturf and saw that _every single person_ was there, doing aerobics. When he got to Gemma's classroom, he just strolled in. "Hiiya!" He said brightly.

"Oh God, another one that's been at it. Who was yours with Mike? Oh no... Please tell me it wasn't Jess..." Said Daniel.

"No, no, wasn't Jess. I'm waay over her, I've moved onto better." He replied smirking.

"Well, are you going to tell us?" Asked Gemma.

"I'll tell you the story first." He said. "After breaking it up with Jess I was feeling depressed so I went to room two which I thought was empty for a cry. And she was there..."

"Who was there?" Asked Fran.

"Jenny." He said. Daniel and Gemma looked at each other amazed. "And she was crying because Adam had just left her. And she said: 'You know Michael, I've just realised how incredibly lush you are.' So I kissed her and she responded. Ever since, she's all I've ever thought about." He continued. There was about ten minutes silence.

"Aww... How sweet." Said Fran soppily. Gemma threw her a murderous look as Daniel walked out. Gemma followed.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Is _everyone_ at it in this place? What the hell are people going to think? First me and you, then your sister with a food teacher and now the head of year ten and an English teacher!! It's like a single's night!" He shouted sitting on the fence. Gemma sat on the fence.

"Think about it babe, people know about us, but they aren't going to know about Michael, Jenny, Jess, Fran or Ian. So calm down. Jess _won't_ be stupid enough to tell and as long as the rest is discreet, no one will find out, plus who's going to care?" She explained. Daniel nodded, stood up and went back inside. As soon as they got in the classroom, Fran jumped up. Michael looked bored to tears; obviously She'd been talking about Ian.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what! I found juicy gossip!" She babbled. Michael's ears perked up and he raised his head hopefully.

"Go on then, surprise me." Mumbled Daniel unexcitedly.

"Karen and Catherine are lesbians!" She said giggling. Daniel, Gemma and Michael were stunned.

"Shut up!" Gemma said disbelievingly. "Where's the proof? How do you know?"

"Me and Ian were errm... Going to the cupboard but they were in there kissing. That's why we had to divert to the staff toilet..." Fran began.

"Ok that's enough!" Gemma said.

"Well, surprise us you did..." Daniel mumbled. Michael, who'd been fairly quiet, just burst out laughing.

"Who'd have thought it?" He spluttered through his giggles. "Lesbians... _Here_! Daniel began to laugh as well, come to think of it; it was a pretty funny thought. This started Gemma and Fran off laughing. Then the bell rang. Gemma gulped nervously and looked at Daniel. They both had their year eight classes now.


	30. Fran catches an eye

Chapter 30- Fran catches an eye.

Gemma's class began to come in. Once they were all sitting quietly, Gemma brought Fran to the front. "This is my sister Fran; she's here to help you if you need it." She said. Everyone nodded, apart from Thomas who couldn't take his eyes off her. She was beautiful. And lucky for him she sat right in his eyeshot so he didn't have to listen at all. Stef, who was sitting next to him, noticed what he was doing. She nudged him and hissed:

"Stop _staring_! It's not like she's not going to notice!"

"She _won't_ notice..." He mumbled dreamily. And he was right, Fran didn't notice, but Gemma did.

"Thomas..." She said. He didn't hear. "THOMAS!" She shouted, shocking him out of his trance.

"Y... Yes miss?" He stammered.

"Stop staring at my sister, she's taken!" She snapped. Thomas blushed and the whole class burst out laughing. He got up and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. He stormed moodily over to the languages block and barged straight into Daniel, then went straight into the toilets without even saying a word. Daniel was furious. He went in there after him and started to shout.

"How _DARE_ you do that! How dare you walk straight into me and don't even bother to apologise! How _rude_ are you? How..." Thomas began to cry. Daniel automatically softened and sat down next to him. "Hey, hey, hey I'm not that much of a dragon am I?" He said. Thomas shook his head.

"No, it wasn't you; I was just going to cry in here anyway." He mumbled.

"Why? What's up?" Daniel asked.

"I've just been totally humiliated by Mrs Lawson. Unfairly." Thomas said glumly.

"What's she done now?" Daniel asked sighing.

"She shouted something embarrassing and everyone was laughing. Not my fault her sister is lush." He replied. Daniel smiled.

"You know what, if she wasn't my wife, I probably would fancy her sister as well. How did she know?" Thomas swallowed.

"Well... I was sort of looking at her... And miss just shouted 'Thomas! Stop staring at my sister, she's taken!'" He stammered. "It was awful, so I just walked out, I can't face to go back in there!" Then the bell rang.

"Saved by the bell!" Said Daniel cheerfully. "Go on, this is the last lesson of the day, then it's all over. It will be forgotten by tomorrow. I'll talk to Mrs Lawson for you." Thomas thanked him and left. Daniel was angry with Gemma and stormed over to her room. Gemma was on her laptop and Fran was doing some photocopying in the staff room.

"Hey gorgeous," she said without even looking up. She didn't see how cross he was.

"Gemma!" He shouted, making her jump. "What the hell do you think you're playing at? Upsetting that poor lad like that, can't you tell he was embarrassed? He got into those toilets and broke his heart! What have you got to say for yourself?"

"He fancies my sister." She said picking up a pen and starting to write. "When she's taken. Therefore, he should not spend _my_ lesson staring at her." Daniel's blood began to boil. He slammed his hand on the desk right next to where Gemma was writing, making her jump out of her skin.

"Big whoop! He fancies your sister! It doesn't give you the right to humiliate him! _I_ probably would fancy your sister if I hadn't married _you_!" He shouted. There was silence.


	31. The fight

Chapter 31- The fight.

The silence was broken by Gemma dropping her pen on the desk. Tears sparkled in her eyes. "You _what_?" She whispered. Daniel shook his head.

"No Gem, I didn't mean... I was angry. I'm sorry." He babbled nervously.

"So you're having an affair with my sister then? I thought you _loved_ me!" She said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I do love you!" He exclaimed.

"So why? Why are you having an affair with my sister? I guess it's true what they say, once a cheater always a cheater." She yelled.

"I'm not!" He shouted. "You just jumped to crazy conclusions as per usual!"

"Oh, so now I'm crazy?! Nice to know what people think of you, isn't it?" She screamed. Then she slapped him across the face.

"You make me sick Daniel Lawson!" Daniel was stunned. As she headed to the door crying Fran walked in.

"Hey! I got your photocopying!" She said brightly. Gemma slapped her.

"You cow..." She said, and left. Fran was confused.

"What did I do?" She asked, clutching her cheek.

"I was about to as the same thing." Replied Daniel rubbing the side of his face. It was sore.

"Well, I heard her yelling at you. What was that about?" She asked.

"Right, I came over here and shouted at her for upsetting Thomas and she was acting all casual going: 'I did it because he's wasting my lesson crushing on an older woman who's taken.' And I said: 'Well I would probably fancy her if I hadn't married you!' And she took it the wrong way and accused me of having an affair with you." He explained. Fran sighed.

"Let her calm down a bit. Then talk to her." She said gently. Daniel nodded in agreement.

Half an hour later he found her in room two on her own crying. He went in and she stood up like she was about to leave. He put his arms around her and let her cry into his shoulder. "Oh Dan, I thought I'd blown our marriage for good." She whimpered.

It's fine babe. I just want to know _why_ you thought I'd have an affair behind your back when I could have easily stayed with Stacy. I chose _you_ over Fran meaning it's _you_ I want. He said softly. Gemma nodded.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just so worried about Sian. They haven't rang about the operation yet. What if it goes wrong Dan? How will I ever live with myself knowing it's my fault if our baby dies?" She wept.

"Gem, don't think like that! She'll be fine. You heard what the doctor said, she _will_ survive it." He said comfortingly. "So let's go back, get our things, make up with Fran, pick Emily up, go home and give the hospital a ring." Gemma nodded. When they got to her classroom Gemma threw her arms around Fran.

"I'm sorry. I've just got a lot to think about at the minute." She explained.

"It's fine. Let's go for Em. I want to go home." Fran said.

When they got home the phone was ringing. Daniel answered it while Emily and Gemma went into the living room and Fran went upstairs to pack a bag because she was staying at Ian's that night. Daniel came off the phone and shouted: "She's fine! The operation was a success. We can go and get her now!" Multiple cheers came from each room and Fran came downstairs and told them she was staying at Ian's.

Five minutes later they were in the car going to pick Sian up. When they got to the hospital, Daniel went to the reception desk. "Hello, I've come to pick my daughter up. Sian Lawson." He said proudly.

"Ah yes, she's on children's ward three and she's fine just to take." The receptionist said. "The doctor should be with her." Daniel thanked her and headed up to the ward. Sure enough, she was sitting with the doctor looking happier than ever. Gemma scooped her up in her arms and kissed her. The doctor nodded at them and said:

"Go on, take her, she's been a star. But be careful with her, she's a bit fragile." They all got back in the car to go home. Emily was holding Sian. She turned to Fran.

"So, do you want to hold your baby niece?" She asked. Fran nodded and held her all the way home.

When they got home they put Sian in the cot and got changed out of their school clothes. Fran was ready to go to Ian's. She said goodbye to Daniel, Gemma and Emily and then opened the door. "Dan..." She called. "There's a blonde woman here to see you."


	32. She's back and she's scheming

Chapter 32- She's back and she's scheming.

Daniel, Gemma and Emily looked at each other horrified. Daniel went to the door. "What do _you_ want?" He asked. Fran slipped out the door. Stacy watched her run out of the gate and down the road.

"Oh so you've got _another_ one now? Well I must say, she's prettier than the other one." She said cruelly.

"Why are you here Stacy?" He snapped at her.

"Dan, can I please come in for a minute? I need to tell you something. And Em as well." She said.

"Yes, but Gemma isn't going anywhere. You aren't welcome here, but I'll let you in for politeness. Go in there and sit down." He said shutting the door behind her. She sat down in the sitting room. Emily and Gemma glared at her. "So, what did you want to tell us?" Daniel asked.

"Well... The thing is... Before I left Daniel. You got me pregnant." She said. Daniel was stunned but Emily and Gemma didn't even flinch.

"Pregnant? Wow Em, did you hear that? Another little brother or sister for you!" He said softening.

"Yeah right!" Said Emily. "She's making it up, you can tell by her face! Lying, two-faced, little..."

"EMILY LAWSON! Go to your room right now!" Daniel shouted. Emily scampered off. "I will do _anything_ to help you if you need it." He said to Stacy. Gemma began to feel slightly uncomfortable. She went upstairs and into the bathroom where she phoned Fran.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, I just didn't know who else to turn to." She began.

"It's fine, what's up?" Asked Fran.

"That blonde woman that was at the door. She's Dan's ex wife and she's told him that she's pregnant. And after that argument we've just had I think he's on the verge of getting back with her. But I'm _sure_ she's lying. What am I going to do?" She babbled tearfully. Fran sighed.

"Babe, Daniel split up with her to be with you. He isn't going to remarry her just because she might be pregnant. Don't stress." She said. Gemma heard Stacy's voice at the bottom of the stairs.

"I have to go soon. What are you doing today?" She asked quietly.

"Going on Ian's motorbike with him. Should be fun." Fran replied.

"Ok, be careful then." Said Gemma

"I will." Said Fran, ending the call. Gemma could hear Stacy coming up the stairs. As soon as she heard the bedroom door shut, Gemma unlocked the bathroom door and tiptoed across to the landing and stood outside Stacy's room. She was on the phone, talking quite loudly. Gemma heard:

"Hello? Oh, hey Courtney. Yes I'm here. Yes I've told him. Yes he does actually believe it, the soft clart. I know he'll kill me when he finds out it's a lie. But I want him back Court and a baby would get him back for me quick and easy. I know its mean. But I'll do anything to win him back from that cow. Ok, see you, bye." Gemma was horrified. She knew it was a lie!

Stacy made her way to the door. She got the fright of her life when she opened the door and Gemma was there with her arms folded and a sinister look on her face. "You heard? How much?" She asked gobsmacked.

"Everything. It was pretty hard not to. I'm surprised Daniel didn't hear to be honest with you. Are you going to tell him? Or shall I?" Gemma replied smugly. Stacy began to panic.

"I will... I'll tell him! I promise!" She lied through her teeth, and this time, Gemma believed her. Gemma went into Emily's room and sat on the bed next to her.

"What's up?" Emily asked.

"Just that scheming cow you call your mother. No offence." Gemma replied. Emily smiled.

"None taken, I agree. Do you think she really _is_ pregnant?" She asked. Gemma sighed. Emily looked confused.

"No, she definitely isn't. I just heard her on the phone. It was all a cruel trick to try and split me and your dad up." Gemma explained tearfully. Emily was horrified.

"Does dad know?" She asked. Gemma shrugged.

"I don't know. Oh, he's coming. Don't mention it." Daniel came into the room.

"Oi! Time for bed Emily L. I'm off now. So is Stacy." He said. Emily rolled her eyes at the sound of Stacy's name. "And pull yourself together Emily. I've had just about enough of this moody teenage attitude. You're nine for god's sake!" Emily nodded.

"Sorry dad." She said. Getting into bed she blew him a kiss and fell straight asleep. Soon after, Daniel and Gemma were asleep. The house was silent.

The next morning they arrived at the school late. Everyone was in the staff room. Gemma found Fran straight away. "Hey, how was the motorbike ride?" She said. Fran nodded.

"It was fun. We're going again tonight." She said. "What's he so happy about?" Gemma rolled her eyes. Daniel stood up and said:

"Hey everyone, I've got some good news. Stacy is pregnant!" Everyone was shocked and then everyone shouted congratulations. Gemma's blood began to boil.

"She's not!" Gemma shouted startling everyone. Daniel shook his head at her angrily.

"How can you be like that Gemma? She had to cope with finding out _you_ were pregnant when we were in court. You're just jealous!" He yelled.

"Daniel, if you're going to trust me on anything, make it this. I heard her on the phone to her mate Courtney saying things like: 'Yes he does actually believe me, the soft clart.' And: 'I know he'll kill me when he finds out I'm lying.' And: 'I'll soon win him back from that cow.' She said she'd tell you. I don't know when she was planning on it. Oh Dan don't look at me like that, please believe me." Gemma said.

"I must say, that does sound like something Stacy would do." Said Michael, and Lesley, Helen and Lynne nodded in agreement. Daniel paused for a second. It _did_ sound like something she would do but would she really stoop that low?

"I'll ring her. Then we'll see who the real liar is." He said glaring at Gemma.

"Well don't hang around. Remember, if you keep hopping from girl to girl you're going to fall at one point. And _I_ won't be picking you up when you do." She said and walked out. Daniel began to dial Stacy's number.

"Put her on speaker so we can witness the answer." Said Michael. Daniel glared at him.

"I'm no liar!" He said. Michael nodded.

"I know but if you want to keep Gemma it's best to have back up." Daniel nodded. And hit the call button.

"Hey babe!" Came Stacy's voice from the other end of the phone. What's up?"

"Stacy, is it true what I've been told?" He asked sternly. Stacy swallowed nervously.

"A... About what?" She stammered.

"About this whole pregnancy thing being a scam for you to get me back? Because I'm telling you now Stacy Armstrong it's _not_ going to work!" He yelled. He could hear Stacy crying down the phone.

"Ok, ok it's true it's all true!" She sobbed. "I lied! But I still love you Dan." Just then Emily's teacher knocked on the door.

"Sorry to bother you Mr Lawson but I'm afraid Emily's been sick and had to be sent home. I didn't bother phoning, I just brought her over. She's with your wife now." She explained. Daniel nodded.

"Thank you." He said, and then turned back to the phone. "Stacy, I'm coming home in ten minutes and I want your bags packed!"

"I would but that weird French tart is in my bedroom." Stacy replied.

"No I'm not! I'm in the living room!" He heard Fran shout in the background.

"No excuses Stacy! I want you packed! Now I have to see to my little girl!" He yelled, hung up and left the staff room without another word.

Emily was in Gemma's classroom. Daniel ran in and threw his arms around Gemma. "I'm so sorry babe. I should have believed you. I was just so wrapped up in the excitement of having another child." He said. Gemma didn't say anything but nodded to show she understood.

"I know everything dad, no need to explain." Said Emily as Daniel opened his mouth to tell her.

"Ok then, let's go." He said. The car was silent.

When they got home Stacy was all ready with her bags packed, arguing with Fran. "I'm telling you Frenchy, Daniel is _not_ going to want some Italian dude staying here. It's turning into an international holiday camp!" Stacy was yelling.

"Dan won't care, he wants to meet my brother, but I'm still asking him first! Do you just pick a fight with anyone?" Fran screamed back. Stacy launched herself at Fran but Emily jumped in front of her and put her arms out just in time. Stacy hit Emily's arms and stumbled backwards. She landed on her back and lay there for a couple of minutes. Daniel stood over her.

"I think you should leave." He said. "Go Stacy. And never darken my door again." As she stormed down the path Daniel turned around. Emily and Fran were hugging each other shaking. "Ross can stay, by the way." He added. Hearing the gate slam, Daniel turned around and took one last look at his ex. Once again, she was gone.


	33. Say buongiorno!

Chapter 33- Say buongiorno!

The doorbell rang late on Friday evening. "Ohh... Go answer that Gem..." Groaned Fran winking at Daniel and Emily. Gemma didn't know Ross was coming. She rolled her eyes and went to get the door. "Ross! What are...? Why are...? How...? Eh?" She babbled. Fran, Daniel, Emily and Ross all burst out laughing.

"Surprise!" Said Fran. "Ok, Ross gave Gemma a surprise now Gemma can give Ross a surprise." Gemma nodded and took Ross by the hand.

"Meet Sian, your new baby niece." Gemma said. Ross was gobsmacked.

"How old is she?" He whispered.

"About a week and a half now." Gemma replied smiling.

"Do mum and dad know?" Ross asked. Gemma nodded.

"What did dad say? He must have gone bananas." Asked Fran.

"I told them at the wedding. Dad ran round and round the field shouting 'I'm going to be a granddad!' It was fantastic." She said dreamily.

"So if dad was happy mum must have been ecstatic." Said Ross. Daniel snorted. Ross and Fran looked at Gemma confused. Gemma sighed.

"Mum... Wasn't best pleased." She said.

"Why? What did she say?" Asked Ross anxiously.

"Not a lot really. Just slapped me and called me the family let down." Replied Gemma shrugging. Fran was horrified. "She's warmed to the idea now!" She added quickly.

"Still... You aren't the family let down Gem. Don't listen to her." Fran said.

"Yeah. Sorry I couldn't come to the wedding. I had so much work to do." Ross said. Gemma nodded.

"I'll cook tonight shall I?" She said.

"No!" Shouted Fran. "_I_ will cook tonight. Spaghetti bolognaise?" Ross nodded.

"What's wrong with Gemma cooking?" Asked Ross, confused

"She fell asleep with the oven on." Explained Daniel. "House was on fire by the time we got back. Kitchen's been refurbished now and everyone is ok so, no real harm done."

"Woah..." Whispered Ross.

"Well can I at least help?" Asked Gemma. Fran nodded sighing. They both went off to the kitchen. Ross turned to Daniel and Emily.

"So you're our Gemma's new hubby then?" He said.

"Yep." Said Daniel.

"So, what's your name?" Ross asked.

"Daniel, and this is my daughter Emily." He replied. Emily smiled and waved. "So, what's Italy like?"

"It's a beautiful country. Lots of landmarks and good food. The women have a bit of a desperate approach. But then again there are a lot of English tourists. One woman just threw herself at me a few days ago. Said she was upset from a marriage break up. Her husband had been cheating on her with some 'middle age slapper.' Her words not mine." Ross said.

"Did you find out her name?" Asked Daniel anxiously.

"She told me a lot of things. Name, age, birthday, job. Full of herself. Bit of a cow. Ross answered

"Tell me everything!" Daniel said panicking.

"She was an accountant, she was 32, and her birthday was on the 18th of June. She had blonde hair and greeny coloured eyes." Ross babbled.

"And her name?" Daniel asked.

"Stacy." Replied Ross. Emily and Daniel looked at each other. "Do you know her?" He asked. Daniel nodded.

"She's my ex-wife." Daniel said.

"But she said her husband had an affair." Ross said. Daniel nodded.

"With Gemma..." He whispered. Ross froze.

"So she called my sister a middle age slapper?" Ross asked angrily.

"Various times." Piped up Emily. Ross was furious.

"Just wait till I get my hands on her! I'll kill her! She'll..." He never had time to finish his threat. He was interrupted by the call of 'dinner's ready!' Then he decided on an early night.


End file.
